Forgotten Remnants
by Angry Santo
Summary: He awoke in a strange land, remembering only pain and the ravenous desire to search for something lost to him, only to catch the eyes of a passing raven. She thought she had found a priceless weapon, an indispensable tool better than any she could have plundered, in the form of an amnesiac kid. What she received however, was something far more precious.
1. Prologue

Wellp. Here we are, I was actually working on some OTHER thing, not this. Though it WAS a crossover, and it WAS with RWBY. It just isn't a FSN/RWBY crossover. And I was (and am) kinda excited about it and still putting words down on it.

Buuuuuuuuut.

I ran into this prompt online that reminded me quite a bit about the good old 'What if Shirou was raised by..." challenges back in Beast's Lair. And decided to start writing this out of nostalgia. As it turns out, this was also something of a writing contest run by one Alex Kellar from Deviant Art. And while I do attempt to be humble, I will admit that competition is one of my vices. So I figured I might as well do the best I can with the prompt and try and win the thing while I'm writing for funsies and nostalgia.

'What is the prompt in question?' you may be asking. Well, I think there were technically three of them? Ish? I'm pretty sure there were three of them. But the one that called to my attention was basically "What if Shirou was raised by Raven Branwen." This intrigued me. So I decided to take up the challenge. So this here prologue will be my own rendition of how Shirou gets to Remnant. As well as...some other stuff.

I've got a few chapters written for it. But I'mma be posting them weekly or bi-weekly. Haven't really decided yet. Point is. Updates should be relatively regular, on saturday (this going up on a wednesday being disregarded, because reasons). Most of my time is taken up by work and the gym. And that terrible tyrant...sleep. But I'm still trying to put down words because it's fun. Ya kno?

Kudos to one FreeLancer V for helpin' me with Beta reading. He's helping me by taking a look at these things with a critical eye in order for yall to get a better...uhh...not _product_ it's not like I'm selling something here...a more enjoyable story? Sure, let's go with that.

Edit: Kudos to Keel the Swift for helping me with punctuation and word choice. Chapter got updated to meet newer standard of writing.

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StrategicSnippetB-!

/( x □x)\ Σ旦

=][=

It felt as if a fist made of solid flame burrowed into his forehead. Searing, bludgeoning, breaking. The agony of it was stupefying, overwhelming, all-consuming.

Thinking was impossible. He tried to do something. He had to do something. He was here for a reason. He tried to coalesce his thoughts into an action.

He felt the fist twist. There was a roaring in his ears, so loud it drowned out the howls. Howls he could feel lacerating his throat as he screamed from the depths of his very soul.

He felt the fist grip something.

=][=

"So, you really are alright?" Tohsaka Rin asked. She appeared indifferent, uncaring even. But he knew her well enough to spot the worry in her eyes.

"Yes Tohsaka, I'm fine." Shirou answered. In truth, he didn't know how he felt. He knew she couldn't stay, that she had to face her past. To do otherwise would deny all they'd fought for.

He could feel a longing in his chest. An emptiness. A void. But that did not matter, he would not dishonor her and the sacrifices she made.

He made a snap decision. Forevermore, he'd fight in her name. He'd strive to be the type of man that Arturia Pendragon would be proud of.

"I'll be just fine," he repeated, forcing conviction into his voice.

=][=

The agony retreated momentarily. It took something with it, something precious. He felt hatred, rage, loss. He felt outrage at the violation.

The fiery fist had taken something precious, and he could not tell what it was.

He marshalled his will, resolved to fight back as best he was able.

The fist came again. He screamed as it tightened its hold.

=][=

"As my lady wishes," Shirou said with a bow, and made his way to brew some tea.

If he were entirely honest with himself, he might be slightly regretting his decision to take up Luvia in her offer to become her butler.

Yes, he was only working part-time, and yes, the pay was so good that working a few months as the Edelfelt heiress' personal butler would finance his traveling around the world to save people, and yes, he got along well enough with the woman most of the time.

But it was in moments like this one in particular, when he could feel Rin's murderous stare boring a hole in his back, that he realized that maybe, just maybe, he might have been better off not taking Luvia's job offer.

He heard Luvia launch into her trademark cackle. And by every Noble Phantasm in his soul, what a cackle.

As he arrived at the kitchen and set about preparing tea, he only hoped Rin would be able to hold on to her temper and—

The explosion informed him of exactly how much wishful thinking he was doing.

He sighed and made his way back with the tea tray, hoping against hope they'd not demolish too many rooms.

Then again…with overtime he would reach his goal faster. But having to renovate the mansion three times in as many weeks?

=][=

He pushed it back. With every muscle taut, exercising nothing but his Will and his Magic Circuits, he pushed it back.

He felt something tear. He'd lost something else precious. Something else irreplaceable.

But no, this was a distraction. He was here to do something, if only it didn't hurt too much to see.

The fiery limb came again, and again he beat it back.

It came again, and again, and again.

"As always you save me Emiya, if it weren't for you we'd never be able to stretch the budget far enough."

"Neeee, Emi-yaaan. You work too hard ya knooo?"

"Shiiiroooou, my scooter broke again!"

"Indeed Shirou, hunger is the enemy."

"There is a time limit to being an ally of justice."

The struggle continued, for moments or hours he could not tell. Each time something was taken from him, something irreplaceable was lost.

Each time it hurt less, or maybe he was merely getting used to the pain. It was getting easier to think.

He was here to do something, to kill something. Something dangerous.

No…he had already fought it. There was a weapon in his hand.

The flame came again.

=][=

The Apostle had been kidnapping the destitute for weeks. He'd contacted the Clock Tower, but they would not be able to mobilize quickly enough. Not to save the people it had kidnapped.

Its lair was formidable, its mysteries powerful. But to Shirou it was barely an obstacle. It had been a long time since he had been defenseless.

The battle against the Apostle itself had been underwhelming. The magus it had once been had specialized in memory, in its loss, retrieval and transfer. It had next to no combat ability, never once having had to deal with anyone that could fight back effectively.

It was a pitiful creature, its very body wasting away. Very little of it remained that could be quantifiably referred to as 'human.'

A little less after Shirou had decimated it.

It staggered against the large metal construct, covered in runes and blood.

"Wait!" it pleaded. "You can't! I'm so close!"

"It doesn't matter how close you think you are," Shirou answered coldly. "You did not have the right to hurt those people."

"But! Do you not understand!? I've managed it! The soul engine will be able to bore a hole into the Akashic plane! I've already done a test run!" it pleaded, its voice a warbling gurgle. "The Counter Force won't become involved!"

Shirou used Structural Grasp on the construct. Read in its history the hundreds of people whose bodies and souls had been fed to it in ones and twos over a period of centuries.

It was only on the last month that the disappearances were noted. For it had been a dozen instead of one or two a month.

He raised his arm, bringing to mind a weapon that should be able to destroy the magus before him. Harpe: The Slaying Scythe.

He could do nothing for those it had already fed to the machine. But he could at the very least avenge them.

The pitiful wretch raised a hand. Shirou Traced Bakuya and cut its arm off at the elbow, putrid sludge ejecting from the stump in a torrent.

But the hand was not needed for the spell, what the spell needed was intent. And the creature was too far gone to feel something as natural as pain from the loss of a limb.

"Forget!" it ordered.

=][=

He had so little left. He couldn't remember what it was that he had given, but retained only a terrible sense of loss and longing. Of violation and anger.

He could feel the hand, grasping, seeking.

He could see again. He wasn't sure why it was that he knew it was 'again' and not 'for the first time,' except that it was a sense of a restoration rather than discovery.

There was a thing in front of him. A…human? No, that was wrong.

"Fall!" it warbled at him. "Fall already!"

He felt the fiery fist in his head grasp something.

She stood at the top of what remained of the mountain, watching the sunrise. The sky was painted red as Illya snuggled tighter to his chest.

She turned, and he couldn't help but think she looked so beautiful.

"Shirou," she said, her voice steady yet overflowing with emotion. "I love you."

"NO!" he screamed. He bent his will, fighting back the grip of the fiery fist. He felt it sear him, sweat fell in rivulets down his face. He felt his limbs trembling, adrenaline rushed through him.

Somehow, he beat it back. Unwilling and unable to let it have this. All before had been sacrificed to keep this sacred. He did not know how he knew, but he did, a knowledge as deep and true as knowing the sun would rise.

"Fall!" the thing repeated, and his anger surged within him.

He did not know what to do, what he had come to do. But his body remembered. He felt something within him emit heat, felt his vitality sap, pain ran through him.

But he knew it was fine. That his body would not succumb. He was doing as he had been forged to do.

Blue lightning coursed through his palms as he raised his arms over his head. The lightning lengthened, coalescing into a long shape with a cross guard. A beautiful sword settled into his hands with a nostalgic pang.

He knew he had not seen this weapon in a long time. It was blue and gold, too finely made to be a weapon for the battlefield.

With a blink, he realized he knew more about this weapon than he did about himself.

The fist redoubled its efforts.

In his mind's eye, the sun lost its color. The sky went dark. The ground itself was swallowed away.

Yet the girl remained. Her dress was a vibrant blue, beautiful even as it was marred by mud and blood. Her hair shifted in an unseen breeze, the color of spun gold.

Her eyes…what color were her eyes?

"Shirou…I love you."

It took all he had to hold on to her. He didn't have anything else left. All that he was, he bent to ensure this last thing would not be taken from him.

Nonetheless, his body knew what to do.

"Caliburn," he whispered. He then bent his knees, swung his hips, and brought the sword down with all his strength. A blinding golden light burst forth, vaporizing the wretch and carving through the infernal machine behind it.

Unfortunately, the Soul Engine, constructed with knowledge bargained for and stolen, was a precise instrument. One designed to bore a hole through dimensions, it was a mystical construct capable of bastardizing a True Magic. It held within it a tear in reality, captive and subdued, tamed.

In other words, it was exceedingly delicate.

Shirou had known this when he used Structural Grasp. He had planned to kill the magus and carefully dismantle the device. That information, like so much else, was long burnt away.

The tear seemingly roared in freedom with a scream of shattering reality. It grew exponentially until it swallowed the room, the still-molten remains of the device, and the room's sole remaining occupant, before reality reasserted its hold and mercilessly crushed the tear into unbeing.

What remained of that old workshop proceeded to be crushed as the ground around it rushed in to fill the new sinkhole.

=][=

A coin flipping through the air. A simple premise, but even this simple a premise has hundreds of factors which influence thousands of results.

How many times does the coin flip? How many times does it bounce? Exactly which direction does it point? What surface does it strike against? Does its crystalline matrix deform? How much potential energy does it have? How much of its kinetic energy is transformed into thermal energy? How many air molecules did it displace? At what exact frequency does it resonate as it strikes a surface?

All of these things and more affect the outcome. But no matter how many factors there are, observation always collapses them all into but the simplest result.

That is often the purpose of flipping a coin. To determine an outcome. To take myriad possibilities and forcibly destroy thousands of them until but one remains. Thus is the purpose of flipping a coin, to determine an outcome between two possibilities. But an oft overlooked fact is of immense importance.

A coin can always land on its edge.

Thus is the nature of the Kaleidoscope.

It is all things and none, all possibilities that could happen are happening and not happening. Simultaneously at different instants. It is all colors, and it is neither dark nor light. It is dizzying diversity and hellish homogeny. Chaos, only existent in a strictly ordered form.

In it there is only one constant: Absolute Inconstancy.

The space between dimensions, an imaginary space that is all too real. Nonexistent until observed to exist, yet persisting after it is once more unobserved.

Observation, is the key. Without observation all the myriad possibilities cannot collapse into a simple result. A result that changes even as it is observed.

A result that mutates the observer.

A human body is dependent on the tyranny of constancy. It is built to withstand constant high gravity. It requires constant fuel through the intake of flammable gases. It demands constant nutrients. It wastes away at a constant rate. It depends on a constant traversal of time.

One second, per second.

What would happen to it in a place where the only constant is inconstancy, is at best difficult to describe.

The body burns as it freezes. Different sections of it misaligning as every part of it experience a different constant. A patch of epidermis could have a constant one second per second, which is different from the relative five seconds per second of the dermis beneath it, which is itself different from the negative second per two seconds of the endodermis underneath it.

Through this a body will drift, for an eternity that lasts the merest flicker of an eyelid. Doomed forever to be in a place where it does not belong. Held together by the curse of its own constancy, and if it is lucky, enslaved to the whims of chance.

Or if it is particularly unlucky, the machinations of Fate.

For of all the myriad dangers and horrors of the infinite sea of unreality, there are none that surpass this one.

It is not uninhabited.

It is in this manner that the destiny of the shattered, inconstant body of what used to be a man was chosen. One of his arms was grotesquely small for his body, but it was young and vibrant and full of life. His chest was in places old and leathery, in others diseased and liver spotted, yet in others the skin was the smooth and unblemished pink of newly born skin. His organs? It would be best not to delve into those.

But its mind, its soul. That remained immutable. Unchangeable. For his soul had been forged in unkind fires, compressed, and hardened.

Sharpened.

It mattered not in what state its body was. As long as the soul remained immutable, it would persist.

It is this blotch of stability in a realm of instability that drew the attention of one of the greater beings within it. It was neither the weakest, nor the most powerful. It did not swim, or drift, or move to this blemish of constancy. It simply was there, retroactively it had always been there.

It recognized the body. For It had seen its like before.

It had worked with Its sibling to make bodies like this. Yet It could also tell that this one was not one that they had worked on.

The Being changed Its form, settling into one which was old. A form that copied that of the things It helped create. Tall and scrawny, humanoid, featureless but for a pair of curved ram's horns growing out of Its skull. Lastly the Being settled Its body into an aesthetically pleasing dark purple coloration.

"You have traveled far," the Being tittered, willing the protean possibility around the two of them to be air so Its words could carry.

The body twitched.

"Yes," the Being sibilated. "Very far indeed, through an unlikely, perilous journey."

It leaned closer to the body's head, looking into its eyes, one a lusterless grey, the other a vibrant amber, almost gold. It spied through them to the soul within, and gasped.

In the soul It saw a vast barren field. As far as It could see the field stretched, and It could see far indeed. The field was infinite, truly infinite, a distance that could not be traversed. Vast and empty, filled only by weapons and armor, driven point first into the ground as grave markers. The eternal night skies within the soul flickered between the blue of the night and the gray of apathetic emptiness. Beyond the skies were monolithic gears, their sheer scale tricking one into believing they were near enough to touch, as It could see the pinpricks of stars between It and those gears. It could hear them grinding, trying to work past some unseen obstruction, trying to answer the call to manufacture.

It realized that this was not a field as It had initially thought, but a hill. A hill that traveled continuously up. And…there, just within the edge of Its vision, at the other end of that endless void, at the peak of the infinite hill. There It could see tufts of green grass, sunlight peeking through as if from a doorway.

Never before had the Being beheld something so beautiful.

This man, this creature that had evolved rather than been constructed. Never before had It seen something so perfectly made to create that which would destroy. A void forever attempting to fill itself, knowing it would be impossible, yet making the attempt nonetheless. And the instruments held within it…there were some inside the soul that could threaten even It and Its sibling.

The Being knew jealousy such as It had never known before. That something else could have created a creature as beautiful as this and then set it adrift! The temerity! The audacity!

The sheer, inexorable genius!

Well, one Being's discard is another Being's treasure. And so Dark, as It liked to call Itself, took possession of the body before It and carefully, oh so carefully, began to work upon it. To restore the creature to how it must have been before the ravages of unreality had sundered it.

It was not Light however, Light was the one who would know what to do. But Dark did not want to involve Its sibling. Knowing Light, It would only launch into a diatribe about 'balance' and 'the poor thing's proper rest.'

Dark did not have the knowledge to return the body to its prime…but humans grew, this was a fact. It scanned the body thoroughly, and It saw that one arm, the exceedingly tiny one, was healthy. So Dark forced the rest of the body to match that arm.

The end result was…less than ideal. Dark could see how the whelp before It would grow into the masterpiece It had glimpsed. The body was small, though not scrawny, its hair a vibrant red, its eyes would shine golden in the light of a star. But while Dark mended the body, It made sure to keep that soul, that wonderful empty-but-not-empty soul, completely intact.

It scanned the body again, and saw within it the Gift. It took Dark but an instant to see, and one more to comprehend.

The body had twenty seven conduits through which it channeled the energy of its soul. Through that channeling it could bring about aspects of that wonderful, destructive world it called its soul, into the plane its body inhabited. The twenty seven channels were relatively weak. Left as they were, they would require years and years of careful experimentation before the soul could fulfill its destructive potential.

That simply would not do.

Dark worked upon them slowly and lovingly. Learning more from this one act of enhancement than from all of the creatures of Grimm that It had created back in—

Dark cut off that line of thought before fury could distract It from the delicate task of enhancing the channels. To repair and enhance was foreign to It, but Dark was nothing if not persistent. Besides, with channels as attuned to destruction as these, it would be a travesty for anything other than Dark to work upon them. The agony It caused to the soul was inconsequential, the soul would thank It for this pain if it could. Dark knew this.

Eventually, Dark finished Its work, satisfied at the expanded and strengthened channels. But then It realized that It did not know how to modify the body to fit the wonderful soul. And Dark could not bear the thought of keeping the magnificence It had so briefly glimpsed forever stunted and weak.

That old world, the shadow of what it once was. Dark knew it was full of weaker versions of the humans that Light and Dark had created. Mere shades of the glories they had once known. For once, the reminder of their betrayal did not fill It with rage and hatred, for now they would serve Dark's purpose.

After all, who better to raise a human, than another human?

Dark gave Its newest toy one last look, and noticed the severe damage to the seat of the soul. It grunted in annoyance. In Its excitement, Dark had almost ruined everything before things could even begin.

It fixed all the damage that would hinder the soul's deadly potential, reconnecting all the severed pathways that would have kept the soul from accessing its powers and techniques. Lastly, Dark gifted it with the knowledge of the language spoken in that shade of a world.

Dark placed a palm on the head of Its newest toy, lovingly caressing this new masterpiece, one that was Dark's and Dark's alone. One that Light could not put claim to.

"I will interfere directly no more than I already have, little soul," Dark said with amusement coloring Its voice. "Sally forth my little Exemplar, and make me proud. Do not fear you'll displease me by destroying my old creations; if they are too weak to stand against you, then it is their fault for not achieving their potential."

It leaned closer, whispering something more into the body's ear. Something that seared as much as it soothed. Then, with a flash of kaleidoscopic light, the little body was gone.

Dark decided to seek out Its brother. It had been eons since they had last spoken, and It felt in a particularly jovial mood.

Dedicating one small part of Its awareness to witnessing Its new toy, Dark immediately pulsed in amusement.

Not even a few seconds passed, and already that wonderfully destructive soul was snuffing out the black flames of Its first creations.

With an amused chuckle, Dark enjoyed the show as It sought out Light.


	2. Chapter 1

Wellp. It is now saturday.

Still not sure if I'm gonna be doing biweekly or not. Had a hell of a busy week and all. But I've got a few chapters saved up for a buffer.

Was surprised by the number of people that liked the prologue! Nearly two hundred follows and over a hundred favorites. Guess I'm doing _something_ right...ish.

Well. I forgot to mention on the prologue. I own neither F/SN nor RWBY. I own little in fact.

As far as things go...well. Hope you like it. If you do like it. Plz plz plz plz drop me a review. If you don't like it, drop me a review and let me know why.

As stated in other works. I'm not about to do something asinine like demand a number of reviews otherwise not gonna write. But reading a review, even if it's a 'good job!'...well, it helps keep a guy motivated. Plz plz plz review!

Once again. Kudos to FreeLancer V for betaing.

Edit: Chapter updated to have better punctuation and improved word choice, kudos to Keel the Swift.

Strategic Snippet Bomb!

( ꒪Д꒪)ノΣ旦

=][=

A large, powerful raven flew over the burning skeleton of a town, looking down at the grimm running rampant through it with distaste and no little anger.

Raven Branwen cawed in disgust. Today was just not her day.

To start things off, the camp's supply situation had gone from 'low' to 'critical.'

Not the best start to the day.

After that, the men and women of the camp had been decidedly unruly. She had been forced to make an example of a few to remind them who was in charge, which had caused enough negative emotion to call down a horde of grimm, causing several of their warriors to become wounded fighting them off.

Add to that their critically low supplies, and she saw herself forced to make an early assault on the town they had been planning to attack for the last two weeks…missing a third of the force she had planned to use.

To top things off, two groups of Huntsmen had been staying in the town, and her scouts had utterly failed to realize this fact. Leading to the town holding out long enough for a grimm horde to descend, trapping Raven's force between a rock and a hard place.

She'd barely managed to fight her way out of that encirclement. Now she was trying to evacuate stragglers. She couldn't exactly afford to just leave them behind; she would run critically low on manpower.

As she flew over the town, past all the men and women running from the grimm, and the remaining Huntsmen fighting that horde, her eye was drawn to an anomaly.

A little red blur zipping around a mound of corpses, killing grimm. Wherever the blur zipped, grimm fell dead; decapitated, stabbed through the head, stabbed through the heart. Never did it take more than an instant.

The raven fluttered down for a closer look. At the center of a plaza was a small mound of corpses. The remains of a few families that had failed to keep away from the grimm.

The grimm, mindless as usual, kept pouring into the plaza. Rushing to the spot where the greatest number of them died in the hopes of taking down a champion.

The raven tilted its head as the little blur stopped moving long enough to get a good look at it.

The blur was a boy. Raven wasn't exactly the best with children but he couldn't be a day over nine. He was wearing an armored shirt and pants, and a red half-cape with a hood. His hair was a vibrant red, but it was his eyes that caught her attention.

They were apathetic, empty, hurt. He'd run around killing grimm, with as much excitement as one put to watching grass grow. He was wielding a large red spear, a pretty fancy one if her eye for weapons was any good. It didn't have a multi-form, but the weapon seemed to have been carved from some red stone rather than forged. Veins seemed to pulsate through its shaft, its point gleaming dangerously. The weapon was almost three times as long as the child that held it, but he wielded it as if it were a part of him.

Raven knew trouble when she saw it. The sensible thing to do was to turn around and leave but…She had seen eyes like those once before, staring out of the mirror at her the day she abandoned her daughter. She couldn't help but wonder…What could have made a boy that young have eyes like that?

Could that be his family in the mound?

He made his way to the corpses, ignoring the dissipating grimm at his feet. He knelt next to the corpse of a woman, and peered into her eyes.

Wherever it was that he was looking for, he didn't seem to find it, as he moved on to the next corpse. He checked the eyes of every female corpse in the mound, before giving an annoyed sounding huff, and plopping himself down next to a puddle of blood, seemingly as content to stay there as he was to kill grimm.

Raven fluttered around the plaza for a few minutes. Trying to force herself to leave. But every time she did, more grimm would come, and she would be enraptured by the way the kid killed them. And not just Beowulves, but alphas. Ursae both regular and major. Two Beringels. Even a young Deathstalker.

The kid killed them all, with a single strike from that dreadful spear.

Raven couldn't help but think she could use that strength. It certainly wouldn't be safe to approach, but nothing ventured…

She fluttered down from the roof she'd been observing from, and transformed. In the blink of an eye, the bird was gone, replaced by a tall woman.

She wore a shallow cut black and red dress, and a pair of shorts underneath. A long scabbard was belted to her waist. Armored gauntlets and solid black gloves encased her arms. Black thigh-high stockings made a strong contrast with her fair skin. A number of beaded necklaces clinked quietly as she landed. She shook her head as she stood straight, her long raven locks fluttering in a wild mane.

Her black high heels clicked against the ground as she walked towards the kid as he finished dispatching a Beringel before turning back to the mound of corpses.

She jumped over the fallen ape. The kid stopped to look up at her, his expression unchanged.

She put a fist on her cocked hip and said, "Hey kid."

She immediately kicked herself for the uninspired greeting. Then again, she was a bandit, not a linguist.

What made it worse was that the kid didn't say anything. He just stood there, looking up at her. His body in a stance that looked relaxed, but she could see it would allow him to spring into action at a moment's notice.

"So, you from around here?" she asked lamely, realizing that she had no idea how to talk to kids. The image of her little spitfire came to mind, playing with Summer's kid behind Tai's house.

She ruthlessly crushed the thought; she couldn't afford to weep in front of the kid if she was going to establish who was boss.

She crossed her arms beneath her breasts. "Look kid, this conversation would go faster if you responded."

He vanished.

Bloodlust so thick she could taste it emanated from beneath her. She looked down, and saw the kid crouched in a predatory stance. She had only ever met one person who could close that distance that quickly.

She wanted to dodge, to throw herself to the side, to evade the attack that she knew must follow. But some instinct screamed at her that to move would only invite death.

"Gáe," he said shifting his feet, pivoting his weight forward. Raven cursed and began to throw herself back. "Bolg!"

The spear moved forward with binding speed, the point of the spear getting ever larger as it flew toward her face, somehow, she did not think, she knew her Aura would not stop this. She wouldn't make it. She'd been such an idiot, dropping her guard merely because he was a kid, a kid with eyes like…

Before her very eyes, the spear bent, it made a 90 degree turn before bending again to go around her head, she heard it strike home behind her. Then the spear straightened, slamming into her temple hard enough to fling her to the floor, then there was a sickening crunch and a veritable explosion of grimm guts that covered her from head to foot.

The good thing about grimm blood, is that it leaves as much evidence as the rest of the grimm. Meaning her outfit would be ruined only for a short while as the grimm dissipated.

She opened her eyes, and saw the Beringel she had thought dead, speared through the chest, with a veritable forest of blood-red thorns pushing out of its skin. Why hadn't that happened before? Was that his Semblance? The thorns didn't look like manipulated dust.

But no, the spear bending must be his Semblance since it didn't have any moving parts.

She thought back to the attack, envisioning the way the kid had swung the spear in an arc that slammed her head out of the way. And blinked in confusion.

Raven knew that he had thrust it straight at her head, she knew the spear had bent at least twice to go around her head. But when she recalled the attack…

She felt him take her chin into his small hands, turning her head with surprising strength. He gently wiped the grimm blood off her face with a cloth, the act surprised her so much that she allowed it.

He peeled back the eyelids on her eyes, peering into them with surprising intensity.

"Not her," he mumbled, he then released her and walked his way to the mound of corpses. Leaving the spear in the Beringel.

Raven watched him make his way to the same puddle of blood, and plop himself down next to it.

She stood up, readjusted the sheath at her hip and rotated the revolver to lighting dust, just in case. Then, emboldened by the fact that he left the spear behind, made her way to him.

"Hey kid," she said, and waited for his emotionless eyes to turn to her. "What's your name?"

=][=

He blinked, shifting uncertainty. What was his name? He knew he had one, but it wasn't important. The important thing was-

There was a stuttering in his head.

"Sally forth, my little Exemplar."

No…that wasn't it, was it? Or…was that his name? It sounded important, could his name actually be important? Well, that purple mister had called him Exemplar so…that was probably it.

He opened his mouth to tell her his name.

His head filled with static.

"Shirou…I love you."

He blinked. How could he have forgotten? He was looking for her…for her, who was she? He tried to bring her to mind, but…he could remember her eyes, like two beautiful emeralds. And her voice, caring, strong yet fragile.

Why was he looking for her?

"Shirou…I love you."

Her voice made his chest tight, a feeling both exultant and nostalgic. Could that be it? She loved him, and he…cared for her? Is that why he was looking for her?

What had she called him?

"Shirou?" he asked slowly, tasting the word…it felt right. Like stretching a limb that had fallen asleep. There but not there, something that would become more familiar the more it's used.

The woman looked at him, her bright red eyes calculating. "Well Shirou, got a last name?"

Did he? He racked his brain for it, what about the purple mister? The one that fixed him? Maybe he was being polite and referring to him by his last name?

"Exemplar?" he asked slowly but…"No…that doesn't sound right."

The woman stared at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't know," he said. "I think I have one…but I don't know what it is."

"I see," she looked at the corpses. He looked too, trying to figure out what she saw in them. Maybe she was looking for someone too? "That your family there?"

That was a new idea, was the girl he was looking for family? He thought so, but also that she was something more than that.

"No," he said after a time. "I don't think so."

"So why did you look at my eyes earlier? Also, how did you do that trick with the spear?" she asked after an awkward silence.

"I'm looking for someone," he said. "A girl…her eyes are green, I'll know her when I see her. And I didn't do a trick with the spear, the spear did the trick, I just helped."

"Right," she said, then looked around. "So you got a family around here or something?"

He blinked, did he have a family? It didn't feel like it, it felt like he had something…different. The girl? Or the purple mister?

"No, I think…I think I'm an orphan?" he asked.

"Huh," she said. "An orphan you say."

"Yes," he said with a nod.

They fell to another awkward silence.

"Wanna come with me to my camp?" she asked slowly.

He considered, did he? It was probably as good as if not better than staying here.

And maybe he could—

Static stuttered in his brain, this time accompanied by pain.

Going with her sounded like a great idea, maybe he could find other things to—

His vision blacked out for an instant then came back.

Maybe he could find her in the camp?

"Sure."


	3. Chapter 2

Well, another Saturday another upload.

Decided to try something different with the opening of this chapter. I kinda liked how it turned out, hopefully yall will too. If you don't, don't worry too much about it. It most likely won't be repeated. Either way, let me know what you think about it.

So, I'mma be updating this weeklyish. Or maybe biweekly. Still not entirely sure. I've got a few chapters built up, but my writing time is limited is all. I try to put down some words every day but hey, it don't always work out. Some of the writing I did for this story was uhh...on the heavy side, and it sorta stopped me writing for a few days too. Yall's see what I mean when that chapter gets posted. Sum heavy shet happening later.

In other news. Really surprised to see how much of a following this story has garnered! Though in all likelihood that is at least partially because it's an entry on a contest hosted by an artist on Deviant Art. Still super surprised. Got a good ol' stoke to the ego cause of that.

Speaking of ego stoking. Plz drop me some reviews eh? They're what keeps a guy going ya kno? Even just a 'good job' helps out. So if you read this and like it, lemme know in a review. I even answer several of them. Yalls know who you are!

If you don't like it. Well, let me know in a review. And while I'm not about to tell people not to cuss, it helps if criticism is delivered in a civil manner. Everyone's day is just plain better that way.

Anyways. Good to see people giving this story I picked up on a whim a shot! Plz continue giving it a shot!

Still major kudos to FreeLancer V for helping turning the horrifying mess of punctuation that is my writing into something legible.

I suck at punctuation

(ФДФ) [Strategic Snippet BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!]

=][=

The CCT network, a truly miraculous invention that had allowed mankind to come together all across Remnant. Making it possible for someone in one side of the world to hold a conversation with someone on the other side of it.

A miraculous technology, bridging the gap between peoples, a technology most used to upload pictures of their pets, food, or to stream video of themselves doing silly things.

Such was considered premier entertainment, depending on finding a diamond in the rough, of course. It was with such expectation that a few dozen users logged in to the stream of one 'Bumjunknowhereandproud' after all, videos uploaded by people who lived outside the cities were usually the most entertaining.

They logged in to a scene of horror. The scroll's camera focusing on the torn remains of people. They could hear screams and gunfire, and the throaty roar of grimm.

"The hell are you doing!?" screamed a voice, the camera shifted and focused on someone who was clearly a Hunstman, he had an assault rifle pressed to his shoulder. "Fall back! We can't hold-"

He never got to finish as a Nevermore swooped by and carried him off, screaming all the while.

In seconds, the dozens that had been watching the video became hundreds.

The person holding the camera ran, aiming the scroll behind them as they took flight, shakily showing a horde of grimm hundreds strong, the viewership grew to the thousands. All across the four kingdoms people tuned in to watch a town's final moments.

"It was bandits!" panted a feminine voice, the scroll's owner. "Those bastards! They brought the grimm!"

The video showed a large square stone building, a sign above the sturdy door declared it to be 'The Thirsty Stone.'

News programs interrupted content to show the young woman's stream. Four nations watched enraptured as people streamed into the inn and began to close its doors.

"Wait!" came the streamer's plaintive plea. But she went ignored or unheard as the door slammed shut mere seconds before she reached relative safety.

She pounded on the doors, at first pleading, then deriving those inside as cowards.

Negative feeling skyrocketed through the kingdoms. Many tuning out of the stream, others tried to shut it off, but there was no unity in the attempt, many of those who would be needed for the procedure sitting enraptured by the video.

She turned to stare at the coming horde, a teeming sea of black that boiled forward, a thunderous growl of hatred shaking the walls of the buildings as the monsters neared. A singularly fast beowulf outran the wave with considerable speed.

It closed the distance in the blink of an eye, leaping at the streamer. She screamed, a bloodcurdling howl of fear, anger, and most horrifying of all...Acceptance.

And then a small body crashed on top of the leaping grimm, driving a cruel red spear through its head and driving it deep into the soil. The beowulf didn't so much as twitch.

The people watching the stream could see by the figure's size that they couldn't be more than a child, using a spear three times longer than they were tall. Said child didn't turn to look at the camera. They stood straight backed and square soldered, facing down the coming grimm.

The child was dressed in black pants, over them he wore a dark red open skirt that ended just above his shins. His torso was armored with what appeared to be scale mail armor, he was wearing a half cape of a color much like the skirt, fashioned into a hood.

"Trace bullet!" he said, his voice clear as a clarinet. Blue/green lines shone brightly in his arms, and above him the air sparkled to life with blue sparks.

"Unceasing targeted barrage!" he screamed. The sparks above him coalesced into weapons. Swords.

Those with an eye for them could see that each weapon was unique, a ceremonial blade floating next to a rusted machete with a grip of duct tape, a master crafted sword hung suspended next to a butcher's cleaver, kitchen knives hovered next to rapiers of fine make. At first five, then a dozen, then three dozens, then more. The video panned up and to the sides, the sheer number of floating blades was staggering.

"Gatling fire!" he screamed, and the weapons began to fall. But it wasn't a gentle clatter. Each of the weapons slammed down as if shot down the barrel of a gun. The air rippled with the sound of dozens upon dozens of projectiles shattering the sound barrier. New swords appearing to replace those shot. The grimm began to melt.

It was as if a line had been drawn across the ground, a line no grimm was allowed to cross. Any grimm that reached it fell. Sometimes transfixed by a single weapon that had stabbed itself through the monster's head, sometimes stabbed by so many weapons that the grimm was invisible beneath them.

Out of that onslaught crashed a massive Deathstalker, an ancient one, large enough to cover the entire street from one end to the other. Swords shattering against its carapace, a precious few barely managing to sink a fraction of an inch into its bleached bone chitin.

The boy raised his arms, the lines running among them blazed white, black and white scimitars began to rain down on the Deathstalker. Sinking into its chitin to the grip, covering it until it resembled a pincushion more than a scorpion. But it scuttled on.

The boy's breath came in quick, short gasps, his entire frame trembling. He took a deep, heaving breath, and screamed. "Burst!"

There was a sickening squelching crunch, and the Deathstalker fell to the ground, skidding several feet. As it began to dissipate, the camera caught the swords, they had somehow elongated, resembling enormous bladed wings.

In that instant the grimm avalanche was brought to a complete halt, they clambered and bayed as they began to retreat. In moments the horde was decimated several times over. But the barrage didn't halt, if anything it intensified.

From what the video showed, not a single grimm was able to retreat more than a few yards before being overwhelmed. The boy fell to his knees, heaving rasping breaths.

Just like that all the anger, hatred and despair that had been felt across the kingdoms was replaced by a surge of hope. Hope that the dark _could_ be turned back, that the day _could_ be saved.

The hand holding the scroll was shaking, in awe or relief or a mixture of the two it was impossible to tell. The little form turned around, seemingly staring straight at the camera with burning intensity.

The hood threw shadows across his head, a half-mask covering his face from the nose down.

He pushed himself to his feet on shaky legs, and walked to the camera, the streamer babbling as he approached. He stopped directly in front of the camera, giving the four kingdoms a very high quality image of his mask. It was only thanks to a trick of the light that his eyes were visible.

Two orbs of burnished gold.

He reached past the view of the camera toward the scroll's owner.

"W-W-What're you doing!?" said the streamer as the boy did something. Then with an annoyed sounding huff, he stood and took a few steps back, dropping his hand to his side.

"Not her," he muttered.

Then a black and red blur with a long raven mane picked up the child by the waist, tucked him under an arm and took off down the street. An enraged cry of 'Damn kids!' floated down to the camera a few moments later.

The woman in red jumped up to a roof, and was gone.

The scroll's owner mutely stood and took a few steps toward the roof where the boy had disappeared. Then, the field of swords began to dissipate into a flurry of golden motes of light.

For a moment there was silence as the entire world held its collective breath. Before the moment was broken by the streamer's relieved, incredulous, slightly manic laughter. An instant later, 'Bumjunknowhereandproud' logged off.

The uproar was immediate.

Demands for more were made, uselessly refreshing the page in hopes of a resumed stream. Others began to analyze the video itself, some calling into question its legitimacy, others angrily defending it.

A singular question was on everyone's lips however. "What kind of Semblance was that?"

On top of the tallest tower of Beacon academy in Vale, a grey haired man stared at his blank scroll in seeming boredom. The hot chocolate in his hand forgotten.

Mutely he brought up his contact list and pressed a button.

"Qrow?" he said the moment the call connected.

"Yes I'm aware. Yes…yes. I'm sorry Qrow. But I need…" he sighed, knowing full well this was a very bad time. "I need you to track down your sister, it's extremely important."

=][=

Raven sighed as she made her way through the gates of the camp. She was greeted by a lot of sullen stares, and a few surprised ones, looking at the apathetic redheaded kid she was carrying like a sack of potatoes.

"Alright people you know the drill." she called out. "Stow your gear, get ready to pack up camp. We leave at first light."

There were groans and grumbles she saw Vernal approaching her.

"Raven," Vernal said falling into step next to her with a nod, sparing the kid a quick look before turning back to her. "Glad to see you back, we were starting to worry."

Raven snorted. "What's the butcher's bill?"

Vernal grimaced. "Three dead, ten wounded, three gravely. Most of those from our better fighters."

Raven closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead with her free hand. A full third of the raiding force. "Who bit it?"

"Joey, Greene, and Violet." Vernal answered.

Raven clicked her tongue. Three of their best. But the best of the tribe were not the equivalent of Huntsmen. She felt the bundle of stupid shift, and she secured her grip more tightly, causing him to grunt in discomfort, he did not however, give up.

"What's with the kid?" Vernal finally asked.

"The reason I'm late," Raven ground out, and Vernal wisely did not ask for more.

Never would she have thought that the seven surviving Huntsmen and Huntresses would up and start chasing her. Demanding she "Give back the Sword Child!"

Not to mention mister 'sword child' wiggling non-stop. Apparently he wanted to check out the Huntresses to see if 'one of them is the green eyed girl.'

He'd not begun to be cooperative until she'd taken the time to make sure none of the Huntresses had green eyes.

The seven Huntsmen taking potshots at her the whole while had only served to irritate her further.

"I'll be in my tent," she said. "Bring me the usual lists."

Vernal nodded and went her own way, Raven made note of the tribesmen nursing wounds or looking at her resentfully. Chances were she'd need to make a few examples.

She ducked into her tent with a grateful sigh. Her rugs, cushions, beads, and other accoutrements were more than most of the tribe got to have, but then again, she was both the strongest warrior in the tribe as well as the leader.

She threw the little sack of stupid onto a cushion. Rather than sprawl as she'd expected, he landed gracefully and rolled a few times to disperse the momentum of her throw. Too bad.

She stepped up to him as he righted himself and loomed over him.

"Alright kid, here's how it's gonna be," she growled. "From now on you're a member of this tribe. That means you do what I say, when I say,_ because_ I said. If I tell you to jump off a cliff, I want to see you diving down it before I've finished the order.

"From now on, you think of Tribe first, me second, yourself last. You'll be clothed and fed, you'll have a tent over your head. This isn't a charity however. You'll have to help, you'll clean, work, forage, whatever you can do to help.

"You're clearly competent enough in a fight, but you won't get to do that until and unless I decide you're ready. Until then, Tribe. First. Understood!?"

"Okay," he said easily. Not once through her whole speech did his eyes show anything other than polite indifference. "Can I go through the camp and see if I find her here?"

"No," she said. If she set the idiot kid loose in the camp right now, chances were one of the idiots would try to put him in his place. And she didn't want to have to fix the camp if the kid decided to pincushion it.

"Okay," he said, his eyes showing mild annoyance for a brief moment.

He looked around the tent, at her decorations, rugs, the few skulls of animals she had hunted and kept because they gave her a challenge. She tried to think of something to talk about.

"So uhh…how did you unlock your Semblance?" she asked.

Shirou blinked. "What's a Semblance?"

Raven pinched the bridge of her nose. "The thing you did with the swords, that's a Semblance."

"Oh…okay." he said.

She waited. When it became obvious he wouldn't answer she asked again.

"I don't remember," he said. "The first thing I remember is…the green eyed girl, and the purple mister. But when I woke up on the town I just…knew how to do it."

Purple. Mister. Great, he wasn't past the imaginary friend phase.

The two of them fell quiet. As the silence between them stretched into its second minute, Raven was forced to accept the fact she had no idea how to talk to kids. He had even begun staring unblinkingly at a corner of the tent.

She growled, scratched her head and sat down at her table. Belatedly, Vernal brought her a scroll with the lists she'd requested.

The take from the raid had been less than stellar, but rationed correctly it should let them eke by. The list of the wounded was more worrisome. The lightly wounded should be fine by the morning, but the three who were grave were in trouble, since they weren't exactly overflowing with medical supplies.

She felt something pulling at her hair. She looked behind her to find the kid brushing her hair with a brush she didn't recognize. He would take a handful of her hair and run the brush meticulously through it until it flowed easily through the raven locks. He'd then grab another handful and repeat the process.

In all honesty, the closest she came to styling her hair was tying some of it so it'd stay out of the way.

"What are you doing?" she demanded after a while.

He frowned, glaring at her hair as if it was hiding something from him, his hands did not once stop their gentle motion. "I'm not sure…but…it feels right."

Raven stared at him work for a while before shrugging and turning back to her work. "Knock yourself out kid."

She didn't feel quite so balsé about it as she made herself sound. She didn't often let someone that particularly close, especially to her back. But if it kept the kid quiet and out of the way…

She became more aware of her hair than usual, feeling every stroke of the brush and hearing every knot that was unraveled. But he never pulled on her hair hard enough to cause pain. He must've practiced on a sister or something.

She wondered who this 'green eyed girl' of his was. Perhaps that was the key to keeping him in line? Yes he could be an asset, but only if she found a way to keep him around, and she didn't think that the promise of food and shelter would be enough.

Speaking of food…next to none of the supplies taken during the raid were edible. Though they'd managed to nab dust and a good amount of lien. If they could find a town willing to trade with them…

The kid carefully and meticulously brushed her hair through the entire time she worked. His careful ministrations were strangely relaxing.

Eventually, when he could run the brush from the back of her head down the entire length of her hair smoothly, he stopped. The sudden cessation causing goosebumps to break out across her arms.

He looked over her shoulder at the scroll and stared at it unblinkingly. Raven in turn watched him.

"I can't read," he said after a moment. "Why can't I read?"

He then stared harder at the words on the scroll, as if that would make them give up their secrets. Raven pondered, teaching him to read and write would mean he owed her, but that would also facilitate his search for this green eyed girl. Not to mention broadening his horizons too much would make it likelier that he wouldn't stick around.

She recalled that storm of blades. That type of power was useful, too useful to let someone else have it. The question is, how…

"Look kid," she said, deciding on the spot. "I can help you find this girl you're looking for."

He turned his eyes on her, a fevered light shining from them as they bore into her own. Twin pools of molten gold that threatened to immolate her. Raven would be the first to admit she knew nothing about kids, but even she could tell that a kid should not have eyes like that.

"I can make portals with my Semblance," she said, forcing her voice to be calm. "I can be in any of the continents in a second. With that, you'd be able to cast a wider net."

His brow furrowed in thought as he digested that.

"But that doesn't come cheap," she continued, "You'll have to prove yourself if you want me to give you that privilege."

"What do you want me to do?" he asked immediately.

Raven had to work really hard not to smirk. And just like that, she had won herself a little assassin. He'd just need to be handled right for a few years.

"I told you already," she said, flicking him on the forehead, hard. He didn't so much as flinch. "Tribe first. Me second. Yourself a distant last. Now be quiet, I need to think of something to resolve the food situation."

"You're short on food?" he asked.

She nodded as she turned back to the scroll, and she heard him shuffle back. Administrative work was not her favorite, but she couldn't trust anyone else with it. If it got out how strapped for resources the tribe was…

She only realized how much time had passed when she'd finished her second pot of tea. She sat back and stretched, her back popping several times causing her to grunt and sigh. She looked around for the kid, thinking to find him on a corner staring at the wall, or maybe curled up asleep on a cushion.

He wasn't in the tent.

She threw herself out of her tent with a curse, the camp wasn't that big, he couldn't have gone far. She saw the gates to the camp open, and he walked in, dragging a deer that was several times bigger than him.

His amber eyes locked on her red ones. He ignored every question put to him, and when one of the tribesmen tried to stop him, a sword appeared over his shoulder and slammed itself pommel first into the bandit's stomach, hard enough to send him tumbling through a tent.

Shirou walked until he was standing directly in front of her, tilting his head back to look into her eyes. He heaved and plopped the deer carcass down in front of her.

"I think I can cook it too," he said, his voice a little strained. "Can I use the Semblance yet?"

She looked at the deer. It had been killed by a single attack that had all but obliterated the head, leaving the meat unspoiled.

A perfect little assassin indeed.

"No," she told him. "But it's a step in the right direction."


	4. Chapter 3

'Nother saturday 'nother chapter.

Work is going pretty good. Still settling in but I'm starting to find the best way to balance out everything and still have time to write. I need to start sleeping more tho. Being exhausted by the time the weekend rolls around is...rough.

Ch 3! and it starts with an explanation to a number of questions left by guest reviewers about Shirou's choice of weapon(s)! To which I say, guys, if you don't actually log in I can't answer in a PM. I don't really plan on doing callouts to reviews on the chapters themselves, I prefer answering via PM.

Anyways. Here is the chapter. Uhh...trigger warning I guess? Look I'm not gonna make assumptions about yall's lives, but statistically speaking there is the near mathematical certainty that a few among the people reading this story have a history with uhh...sub-par parenting shall we say. So fair warning, this fic is going to have some of that. You've been warned.

I worked hard on this chapter and I do think I've managed to keep everyone involved in-character. My Beta and I actually had a bit of a disagreement in how I handled something here, but we'll see what yall's think of it.

Originally this chapter was going to be a lot longer. But I decided instead to chop it up into two so it flowed better.

If you like the chapter. Drop me a review, please. Reviews are one of the things that keep me writing. I'm not joking when I say that reviews can be the difference between a fic continuing and being dropped. Even a lil' 'good job!' or some such helps. So GIMME REVIEWS! OcO

GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME! (꒪Д꒪)

If you don't like it. Also drop me a review and let me know why! Can't get better without feedback.

Once again. Kudos to FreeLancer V for betaing.

Oh right I don't own either F/SN or RWBY. I keep forgetting to say that.

The goggles! They do nothing!

^(OДO)^

=][=

Shirou sighed as he let Kansho and Bakuya fade away. He felt an…affinity for the weapons, and when he swung them, his body wanted to move in a particular way that seemed to imply a fighting style.

But he was too small and weak, every swing took him off balance, every step was too short, every thrust nearly caused him to lose hold of the weapons as he couldn't wrap his hands entirely around their grip. He woke up every day before nearly everyone, but when he exercised he felt that he wasn't doing enough. He went until he was almost ready to collapse, but felt as if he'd only done a fraction of what he should.

Maybe he was doing something different before he lost his memory? Every time he tried to think back, he could only remember the girl's green eyes, her words, and the purple mister.

Maybe he should ask Vernal about the purple mister? She was a bit testy since Raven had tasked her with teaching Shirou to read, so maybe that was a bad idea.

He'd been with the Branwen Tribe for a few months, and they had moved several times since then. Raven had told him that it was his fault they were moving so she was putting the expense on his Semblance usage tab. He'd looked at all the women in the tribe, but none of the women of the tribe were the green eyed girl.

He snapped to attention as his ears picked up the sound of hooves rustling grass. He traced his bow, then shrunk it. He strained his eyes, his Aura (something in him told him it wasn't Aura, that it was something else. But he didn't know what that else was called) flowing into his eyes, making them keener.

Suddenly everything in sight was in clear focus, he could count each individual leaf in a tree several hundred yards out.

There, a sunder was making its way through, digging up the earth to get at roots. Five arrows were released in as many seconds. The first three slammed through the heads of as many piglets, the last two sunk into the flanks of a fourth piglet and an adult as they twitched and tried to run, impaling them to the ground.

He sent another two arrows to put them out of their misery as the sunder scattered. He jogged to his catch, it took him a while as he'd taken the shots from a few hundred yards. Once he caught up, he traced a knife and began to gut the carcasses.

Shirou really couldn't complain with his lot. He got to eat, he slept on a cushion in a corner of Raven's tent. Vernal was going to teach him to read some day. He had work to keep him busy, and soap and oil to keep his clothes and armor clean. And the more work he did, the more he would pay Raven back.

Maybe with this latest hunting trip Raven would finally let him use her Semblance. Or at least bring his tab to zero as his previous results from hunting hadn't so far. But with this catch…

When he was done preparing the carcasses for transport, he tied the piglets on a rope and hung them from his shoulders. He then took hold of the adult's legs, let his Aura flow into his bones and muscles, and began to drag the creature towards camp.

The tribe had become more prosperous since his arrival. He hunted most mornings, cooked, cleaned, sewed and repaired equipment, and they could sell the skins of the animals he hunted.

He saw something black sneaking toward him from underneath the shadows of a tree. He took one look and absently traced seven copies of Kansho and shot them at the Grimm. Each shot landing unerringly into their necks and heads.

The grimm fell and began to dissipate.

As he walked, he passed by a town. He could see its walls about a mile out, just in the range of his vision. That was another thing that bothered him, he kept expecting to see some three miles out but could barely eke out one without climbing a tree.

There were offerings in a small ramshackle building outside the walls. A sign on it said, 'For the Sword Hunter.'

Vernal had made him memorize those words, apparently his culling of grimm in the area had made him somewhat notorious. That and rushing into a town to kill grimm whenever they attacked…and leaving before anyone could thank him.

He felt guilty about taking the offerings. The reason he killed grimm was because every now and then, he would have a nagging feeling, like he was about to remember something. So he didn't deserve the offerings, but Raven had said that she counted any and all contributions he made against his tab. And the sooner he had access to her Semblance, the sooner he could resume searching for the girl.

He put the carcasses down and snuck his way toward the little building, keeping an eye and ear out for anyone watching for him. There had been a few that had tried to take a video of him as he took the offerings.

There were Lien, a few vials of Dust, some non-perishable food, and a few spices. He took them guiltily, but this was to find the girl.

He took the extra scenic route on his way back to camp just to make sure he ran into a few more grimm on the way.

Going by the position of the sun, it was around eight in the morning when he made it back to camp. He saw Seared and Crimson guarding the gate and nursing a few lumps. They must have done something stupid again.

The moment they saw him coming, one of them whistled as they came over to relieve him of his burden. He let them have the carcasses, the sentries had learned not to take credit for his hunting. He wouldn't mind, if it weren't for his need to pay back Raven.

He made his way to the kitchen area and began cutting vegetables, adding shrubs, roots, and a few wild carrots he was able to find while training and grimm killing. His body going through the motions of making venison stew with very little input from him.

It hadn't taken him long to get used to a wood fire. Much like fighting, using his Semblance ('_not a Semblance'_ said a feeling inside him) or training. His body simply seemed to know what to do.

The fire crackled, the wood shifted and popped, and the flame climbed high as it gave off a small torrent of sparks. He stared at the fire, that nagging feeling of being _about_ to remember something assaulting him again.

Fire…what did fire make him think of? Cooking clearly. But also something more. Something…nostalgic, but at the same time hurtful.

A smile?

Why would he think about a smile? From a fire? Was the previous him a pyromaniac? No, it was something much more important than that, something…sacred. It was something he wanted, something he _needed_…is that why he was looking for the green eyed girl?

He shook his head. None of this was getting breakfast ready. His body went through the motions, adding ingredients at the right times. And before long he had finished the stew, it hadn't taken Shirou long to become the camp's official cook. Apparently the last cook had died in that raid that ended with Shirou joining the tribe. Quite convenient for him really.

He prepared a bowl and some bread, put it on a tray, and made his way to Raven's tent as the rest of the camp descended on the cauldron. He trusted that there would be no fights over food, the last few times there had been fights, he had left the camp to fend for itself as far as food went. Preparing only Raven's portion, which _nobody_ had the spine to steal.

He entered the tent and set the tray down on Raven's favorite table.

He turned to Raven's bed and saw the woman herself sprawled on it, her sleeping shift a complete mess. He walked over to her, her face far more relaxed than at any time she was awake. Not counting when she wept in her sleep, calling after people and apologizing.

He laid a hand gently on her shoulder and shook her slightly. "Raven, breakfast is ready."

Her face scrunched up and she shifted to her side.

"Raven," he repeated, shaking her slightly more vigorously. "Your food is getting cold."

She did eventually blink her eyes open, her brows instantly furrowing down the moment she gained consciousness.

"What?" she demanded.

"Breakfast," Shirou said.

She stood up and stretched, coming dangerously close to a wardrobe malfunction. Shirou felt like the sight was a familiar one, and not because he had seen Raven in this same state every morning for months, but much like with the fire, whatever he was on the cusp of remembering merely melted away.

She meandered her way to the table and plopped herself down on a cushion. Shirou absently handed her a spoon and served her tea then began to brush her hair.

The more she ate, the closer to fully awake Raven came. It was almost bizarre to see the usually coldly poised woman in such a state.

"Did you go hunting again?" she asked past a mouthful of stew.

"Yeah, four piglets and an adult boar." he said neutrally, "Also found some wild carrots and other stuff. Put most of them into the stew. I…I found another one of those offerings."

"Alright then, cough it up." she said.

Shirou put the contents of what the villagers had set out on the table. Raven tossed the spices back to him and took the rest.

"Before you ask, no, not yet." she said past a yawn that began strong and ended in a squeak.

He nodded absently as he brushed her hair. It would never be tidy, no matter how much effort he put into brushing it. He no longer got that nagging feeling, like he was about to remember something, but he'd found he somewhat enjoyed brushing Raven's hair.

When he was done brushing it, his hands began braiding some of her hair, and with curiosity he didn't stop himself doing what he was doing. Not long after, he'd braided a tiara of sorts along her temples.

Her hair was too dark for it to stand out meaningfully, but it would compliment the bandana with raven feathers she liked to wear.

When had he learned to style hair?

"You done back there?" she asked him, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"Yeah," he said with a nod.

She stood and set about getting dressed, starting by letting her shift fall to the floor and stepping out of it. He turned away before her underwear could follow it. Raven certainly wasn't shy, she should seriously be more conscious of other people.

She didn't take long to get ready at least. It was less than two minutes before she stepped out of the tent without a further word to him. Shirou went about tidying up after her, picking up her discarded clothes, making her bed, cleaning the table and taking her dirty dishes to wash.

After he was done with that he looked at the cauldron and ate whatever scraps were left at the bottom, and washed it too. Following that he took Raven's dirty laundry and some soap, and was about to head to the nearest stream when suddenly Raven herself snatched him up by the waist and ran to her tent.

She dashed in, went to her wardrobe, and unceremoniously tossed him inside.

"Stay there and don't you _dare_ make a sound until I tell you!" she said before rushing out again.

Well this was new. Shirou ran through his actions of the last few days, but he couldn't think of anything he'd done to warrant being punished. Beyond asking her if he could use her Semblance every morning and every night.

Maybe that was it?

Screaming, gunfire, and the sound of steel striking steel penetrated into the tent. He was out of the wardrobe and on his way to the conflict before he could so much as formulate a thought. And came to a stumbling halt at the threshold.

If he disobeyed Raven, she might decide to take even longer to give him access to her Semblance. But what if Raven got hurt?

Could he find some way to hide? He ran over his mental map of the camp, and saw that it did not offer much in the way of cover.

He began to search within himself for a way to hide and go out into the battle at the same time. And beheld an enormous barren hill. Enormous gears turned in the far distance beyond the night sky. He could see a small, muted glow in the far horizon, as if a weak and muted sun were just about to peek over it.

Driven into the earth point first were swords. Swords that slew kings, swords that slew monsters, swords that slew gods. But not just swords, spears, hammers, shields, armor. An infinite armory. And all he needed to do was concentrate on any individual weapon and he knew all about it.

This is where his swords had come from…was _this_ his Semblance? No, this was deeper. He instinctively knew this was not some facet of his soul, but his soul made manifest. He was every sword in this world, and every sword was him.

**My Body Is Made Of Swords.**

The words reverberated through the world, both shaking it to the core and cementing it more firmly. Bringing it closer to the surface. Everything he knew and did, indeed everything he was, was a facet of this place.

_'Since when have I had _this!?' he thought to himself.

He abandoned the question, he had to find something to help him hide.

His vision shifted, and he saw a dagger, he activated his Aura _(not Aura)_, and with a small effort of will, he was holding it.

Carnwennan, the legendary dagger of Arthur, the once and future King. The dagger could wrap shadow itself around him as a cloak, and if thrown it would always strike its mark. Furthermore, he knew how to use it.

Using it hurt. Not physically, and not the…channels? Pathways?

_Circuits._

Not his circuits. It was the pain of loss and longing. He noticed the sound of fighting had died away while he was…indisposed.

He shook his head, he didn't have time to dwell on this. He used Carnwennan to wrap shadow around him, feeling a steady strain on his circuits.

He peeked out and immediately ducked back inside and dove for the darkest corner of the tent. Raven strode through a moment later, followed by a tall, black haired man who reeked of cheap booze and holding a sword on his right hand.

_Harbinger_, a multi form scythe, sword, shotgun. It had a long history of violence, it had taken the lives of countless grimm, and dozens of men and women.

As soon as the tent flap closed behind them, Raven turned on her heel and walked up to the man's chest and spoke right into his face.

"You've got _some_ nerve coming here." she growled into his face. "What the _hells_ were you thinking coming in the front gate!?"

"Believe me, if it were up to me I'd never have come." he growled back, his voice was gravelly and deep, his eyes the same fierce red as Raven's. "I've got more important things to do than attend _family reunions."_

Raven snorted and turned her back on him, walking toward her favorite table. "Yeah? Like what? Finding the nearest bar and drinking it?"

"Summer's dead," he whispered. Raven stumbled and nearly fell, she whipped around, her eyes wide.

"She's been missing for months, I found her cloak." he sniffed. "You know how she was about that damn cloak."

"She'd beat the hell out of you every time it got stained while you were around," she said, her voice had the too-steady cadence of someone trying very hard to sound calm. "So why are you here?"

"Oz wants to see this 'Sword Hunter.'" he said, making air quotes. "So if you could hand him over I'll be on my way."

"And what makes you think I have him?" she asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Raven I'm drunk not stupid!" he growled, "I saw the damn video! It was you picking him up and running off with the kid! Not to mention the after-action reports of the seven Hunters described you to a T! So where's the damn kid!? I need to be on my way, _one of us_ should be there for Tai!"

Raven's entire body stiffened.

"Get. Out." she growled through grit teeth. "Leave and do not come back."

"Raven-!"

Raven's arm blurred and she was suddenly holding a yellow dust blade in a trembling grip.

The two fell quiet, glaring into each other's eyes. Qrow's will was the first to break. "Alright! Alright! I'm leaving. If you ever get tired of the kid, just send him my way. I'll get him to Oz."

After he left, Raven slowly sheathed her blade. The sheath clicking as the blades within it rotated. She glared out of the tent flap for a long time, presumably until Qrow left the camp.

She cracked her neck and, marching to the wardrobe, threw the door open. Where she failed to find Shirou.

"Shirou!" she shrieked.

He let Carnwennan fade away, the shadows that had been hiding him melting away from him. "Yes?"

She whipped around, the hilt of her weapon holding a red dust blade in a trembling grip. "I told you to stay in the wardrobe!"

"I heard fighting." he retorted calmly.

"If Qrow had seen you-!" she said, marching up and looming over him.

"You didn't," he interrupted.

She picked him up by the collar and brought him face-to-face with her. "So you're feeling man enough to talk back are you!?"

Shirou wisely decided to keep his own council. Not least because his legs were dangling several feet above the ground.

She growled and threw him at the bed, thoroughly ruining the neat arrangement of sheets and pillows he'd worked so hard on as he tumbled over and off it. Seriously, the edge of the bed came a bit above his waist, making her bed was pretty difficult.

He stood up and began to calmly remake the bed as Raven stalked through the tent like a caged lioness. He was almost done when she thoroughly ruined his efforts by plucking him off the floor by the scruff of the neck, while he was still holding the sheet, causing the whole thing to flop.

"That's it, I'm going for a walk, and I'm not letting you out of my damn sight." Raven growled, he felt something _folding_, as if the space behind the air were being tucked and wrinkled, and a red and black vortex opened up in front of her. "You might do something stupid, like get caught by Qrow."

"Is this you-" as she stepped through, Shirou felt as if he were stretched thin, as well as a slight moment of panic as his entire body seemed to crawl all at once. "-r Semblance?"

He shuddered, violently. "That was unpleasant."

Raven jumped up to a tree branch, and Shirou for the first time realized they were in a heavily forested area. Looking around, he saw they were approaching a house, he opened his mouth and Raven hissed into his ear. "You will stay. _Quiet_."

She then unceremoniously tucked him under her arm. She went to a tree near the house and merely…looked at it.

They were there for a good half hour, and with nothing to do or concentrate on, Shirou began to go over the weapons in his inner world. Their names, history, materials, achievements, abilities. The stream of information made a buzz in his mind that at once focused and relaxed him.

Time passed in his fugue state, but movement out of the corner of his eye drew him out of his revere. He turned to look in the direction of the back of the house.

A blonde girl with pigtails was walking off into the forest, pulling a little pull along wagon with a small sleeping black-haired girl in it. He looked around, looking for the adult that should be accompanying her. But the girls were alone.

He looked at Raven, who was still looking intently at the house. Apparently, she hadn't seen them.

"Raven." he said.

"Quiet." she said quietly.

"But Raven." he insisted.

"Shut! Up!" she snapped.

"Raven the girls."

She tightened her grip until she crushed the air out of his lungs. Which made talking difficult.

Nothing else he could do. He activated his…Aura Circuits? No that still felt wrong. The process of filling the gaps of his body with energy was second nature. He felt himself become stronger, faster, and tougher.

He then bodily pushed Raven's arm off, causing him to fall. He managed to catch himself on the branch and was readying himself to jump, when Raven caught him by the neck and slammed him against the trunk of the tree so hard that black spots danced across his vision.

She held him there, his feet dangling and scrabbling at the tree, only his grip on her arm made it so it wasn't his neck supporting his whole weight.

"You're strangely uppity today." she said, her voice colder than ice. Her grip increased until he could feel his airway being forcibly closed. "What, seeing me decide not to fight Qrow made you think I'm weak? It made you think I'm _soft?_"

Her voice grew colder and quieter by the word. "Do you think you have some form of _control?_ You think you're in _charge?"_

He was tapping desperately at her arm, the other pointing in the direction the girls had gone. His throat felt as if it was on fire, her grip carefully circumventing a blood choke he noted clinically.

"The whole _Sword Hunter_ title getting to your head? Is that it?" she continued, she pressed into his chest with her other arm, pushing him harder against the tree, pressing the air out of his lungs and causing it to bunch up around his closed airway, making him feel as if he were about to explode. He distantly heard the trunk groan in seeming pain under the force. "The little orphan finally got tired of doing what he's told, so he bears his fangs?"

He could feel blood thundering in his ears. He was starting to feel faint. He had to let her know about the girls before he passed out.

Tapping at her arm wasn't working, and she wasn't looking where he pointed. Not that she'd see anything if she looked now.

He took hold of her index finger with one hand, and her thumb with the other, and pulled them apart. It took nearly all the strength he could muster simply to give his neck enough leeway to cough out. "Girls! Forest!"

Then his grip failed and he went right back to choking.

Raven held him there for a moment longer, then relented the pressure on his neck just enough for him to breathe. His body immediately tried to inhale, cough, and speak at the same time.

"What. Girls." she demanded.

"Girls!" he coughed, grunting out words between coughs. "Blonde! Pigtails! Cart! Sleeping girl! Black hair!"

Raven looked around as he tried to get his breathing under control. "Yang and Ruby? What about them?"

"Forest! She went into the forest! Alone!" he finally managed to say. "I can hear grimm in the forest!"


	5. Chapter 4

'Nother saturday 'nother upload.

Had a bunch of stuff going on this week. Couldn't get a lot of writing done. It's a good thing I have chapters written in advance for a buffer against weeks like this.

Kind of a short chapter. This is one of those 'originally it was going to be one big one but I cut it up into two because I felt it flowed better that way" chapters.

Was surprised at the last chapter! It caught a lot of flak, and not even for what I thought I would catch flak on! Lemme tell ya somethin' boy was I surprised.

Not gonna name names. But I mean, really guys? Did anyone think _Raven_ would be good parenting material!? Why!? HOW!?

Actually it's my firm belief that if Ozpin and..._her_ weren't around, then Raven would actually be a fairly okay parent. But as things stand she is (rightfully) paranoid AND has a HUUUUGE target on her back.

As always, Guest reviewers. If you guys don't log in, I can't answer ya. I answer via PM. I don't plan on writing responses to reviews in the chapters themselves. It's just not something I do. Nor do I plan to start doing it. Some of yall had some stuff I would totes have chatted ya up about. Buuut I can't, cause yer not logged in.

To everyone that dropped me a review, thanks a bunch, really appreciated it. The amount of schadenfreude I got to bask in was _immense_. Hope you lot like the chapter.

Speaking of liking it. Mine beta got super busy this week and could not go through this to fix my punctuation. So sorry to tell ya lot, this one will be rougher than the last...nearly everything. I'm not the best at grammar and punctuation. But das life.

Also, this thing is sitting at 784 follows as of the time of writing. Officially becoming my most followed fic. Gorram brah, das a weird feeling. Like, it's a strange one. Cause while it feels _good _there is also this pressure now. Like I need to do well or disappoint at least 784 people. Is a good conflicting feeling however.

Anyways I've rambled enough. Here's the chapter. If you like it, drop me a review and let me know why. Them reviews are sometimes the only things that keep a guy going.

If you don't like it, like the last chapter, drop me a review and let me know why! Yeeeeesss, the salt must flow, the salt must aaaaaaaallways flooooooow.

For those of you that don't get it, that's a Dune reference...ya uncouth philistines.

The saaaaaaaaaaaalt.

(ↀДↀ)

=][=

Even knowing that the kid was surprisingly strong and sturdy, and fast. Raven was pleasantly surprised to see that he was mostly capable of keeping up, even after she choked him to near unconsciousness. Raven shook her head and derided herself for giving into her emotions like that. Sure the kid had deserved _some_ of it for being uppity, but the punishment she'd doled out had been grossly disproportionate.

Stupid Summer running off and getting killed. Stupid Qrow for not having Summer's back, goddamn Ozpin for being a manipulative shit.

It was a good thing that Yang was making slow progress, otherwise Raven would be forced to carry Shirou. And that would make her seem apologetic.

As they walked, minutes turning into a couple hours, she wondered where Yang was headed. The trail seemed familiar…

She saw Shirou absently rubbing at his neck and felt a pang of guilt. Which she proceeded to quash mercilessly. She'd had worse growing up.

_'Sure, but you actually deserved them.'_ came the unwelcome thought. _'He tried to warn you three times, speaking quietly and respectfully. And only proceeded to use force, minimum force at that, when you didn't leave him a choice. He could have easily created a sword or a knife and cut you while your Aura was down.'_

She shook her head. Now was not the time. She'd think of something to…not apologize…make it up to him later.

What do kids like? Toys? Somehow he didn't strike her as the type to like toys. Candy? A cake? Well she wasn't exactly a _cook_, and she couldn't quite make amends by ordering him to make a cake.

They followed Yang silently through the trail, the sense of déjà vu getting stronger by the step. Her idiot daughter had been lucky not to run into any grimm so far but…

An abandoned house came into view, and Raven almost stumbled, which in the middle of the dead quiet forest, would have been about a loud as gunshots.

What the hells was Yang doing here? She was standing in front of the door, looking far too happy with herself. At least until a half dozen pairs of luminescent red eyes peeked out at her from the door. Yang did not so much as scream, she merely stood there, looking at the grimm as they began to stalk forward.

Raven reached for _Omen_, readying a dust blade. She'd never have thought that Yang would use her one save from her _this _quickly. She felt a gust of wind from beside her, and looked down to see the grass settling.

She looked up in time to see a small red blur rushing to her daughter's side.

=][=

'_I'm dead,'_ thought Yang Xiao Long as the monsters of grimm stalked forward. She was too tired to even cry out for help. She was going to die and worst of all, she was going to get Ruby killed.

She closed her eyes and trembled, willing the grimm to disappear.

The sound of flesh tearing reverberated through the small clearing around the house. She flinched and scrunched her face up harder, but there was no pain. She had expected pain.

There were several back-to-back thundercracks. Causing her to flinch again, and waking Ruby, who promptly started crying.

The sound of her little sister crying made Yang open her eyes. And she gasped. The grimm were dead, each had been shredded into mincemeat. Standing in front of her was a small figure, taller than Ruby, but the hooded figure would barely reach Yang's chin.

The figure turned around, and she realized she couldn't see their face. It was hidden by a half-mask he wore under his red half-cape-hood. A red battle-skirt with the front open highlighted black pants.

"You okay?" he asked, his voice was soft and strangely empty, but definitely a boy's.

Yang opened and closed her mouth several times. Ruby cried on.

He stepped around Yang to get to her sister, which made Yang tense up and broke her out of her trance. She didn't know what exactly she could do to stop him, but if he hurt Ruby-!

He leaned down to look into Ruby's face, and began to softly stroke her head. Ruby kept crying, though she eventually slowed and stopped, she hiccupped and peeked out from behind her hands, then yelped and hid her eyes again.

"Hey little one," he said, his voice picking up an approximation of warmth, and Yang almost scoffed, he couldn't be any older than…nine? Yang would go with nine. A short nine. "You need to be strong for your sister, can you do that?"

Ruby peeked out from behind her hands again, and sniffled.

"That's a good girl." He said, he then held up a hand, holding a small wooden knife, Ruby's silver eyes opened wide. He held it out to Ruby, then pulled back when she tried to grab it. "Toys are only for good girls who will be strong and quiet. Can you do that for me?"

Ruby nodded so hard it looked like her head might fall off. Where she not exhausted, Yang would remark on how adorable her sister was. He gave her the wooden knife.

"Magic knife!" Ruby whispered, her eyes shining.

The kid stood up and turned to look at her. Not being able to see his face was really disconcerting.

"Can you walk?" he asked.

"Y-Yes!" Yang said as strongly as she could, her legs feeling like jelly, jelly that had been set on fire. The hood tilted slightly to the side, and Yang relented with a muttered. "No."

"You two need to get home," he said. His voice again lacking any tone whatsoever. "Get in the cart with your sister."

"You can't tell me what to do!" Yang said hotly.

His hood shifted to look behind her. She turned, and saw the last of the dissipating grimm fade away.

She gulped and turned back to look at him defiantly, standing as straight as she could to make full use of her advantage in height.

"Please get in the cart," he said.

Yang frowned, Ruby was swinging the wooden knife in short slashes and making explosion sounds with her mouth.

"I came here looking for clues about my mom! I'm not leaving emptyhanded." she hissed, crossing her arms and stomping a foot.

"You are leaving with your life," he said, causing her to flinch. "Yours and your sister's, and the longer we stay here, the greater the chances of that changing. Please, get in the cart. I'll take you home."

Yang knew that he was right, she knew that the reasonable thing to do was to get in the cart and let the scary kid take her home.

But she didn't want to be reasonable.

"Please," he whispered. "For your sister."

Yang felt herself deflating. It was her fault Ruby was in danger, she should be thankful that this boy was willing to help at all.

"Okay," she said, climbing into the little red cart next to her sister. Who immediately slapped her arm with the wooden knife and giggled.

The kid took hold of the handle and began walking back the way they'd come. Ruby kept playing with the knife until she grew tired and curled up next to Yang. She was snoring again inside of a few minutes.

Yang wanted to fill the silence somehow, but every time she began, her throat locked up tight.

The cart stopped, she looked up just in time to see the boy dash off into the trees. Before she could call out to him, she heard a sound like a watermelon being crushed, and an animalistic gurgle, waking Ruby up with a start.

Yang hugged her, and started when the boy jumped out of the trees and landed in front of the cart. He wordlessly took hold of the handle and began pulling it again. Over the next hour, he'd repeat that feat several more times, dashing off into the trees, the cries of grimm following soon after, before coming back and wordlessly pulling the cart again.

"Who are you?" Yang asked.

He turned around to look at her, and thanks to a trick of the light she could see his amber eyes shining from within the hood.

"I'm not important," he said with a shrug. "Just trying to help."

"Are you a hero?" Ruby asked, her eyes shining, before she started speaking a mile a minute. "What weapon do you use? Do you use a rifle? It sounded like a sword, do you use a sword? A sword that turns into a rifle? Where's your rifle sword?"

He blinked. "I do use swords. And I'm not a hero…I think…I just want to help."

He then turned around and continued pulling the cart, ignoring Ruby's continued questions.

"How…did you know we needed help?" Yang asked.

He stopped and turned to look back at her, his eyes wide, before he turned forward again. "I was in the area."

"What do you mean 'in the area?'" she asked. But he refused to talk again, no matter how many times she asked.

The rest of the trip was decidedly more awkward, not that Ruby noticed, enamored as she was with the little wooden knife. Yang was a bit miffed to realize that he made better time pulling both her and Ruby, and going off into the forest to kill grimm, than she had pulling only Ruby. In half the time she had made going out, they were at the threshold of her home.

He stopped, leaving the cart at the fence, and simply began to walk away.

"Hey wait!" Yang called out, jumping out of the cart and running to him.

He looked over his shoulder at her.

"I uhh…thanks…for saving us." she said, the words almost causing her physical pain.

"Don't mention it." he said, and resumed walking.

"Bye bye mister Sword Hunter!" Ruby called out from the cart, causing the boy to stumble.

"Wait," Yang said, turning to look at Ruby. "Sword Hunter? But I thought the video was fake?"

Admittedly she hadn't watched the video, she'd been too preoccupied with...everything.

"Well…he made my magic knife!" Ruby said, waving the wooden toy around.

Things _clicked_ for Yang, she turned back around to confront the Sword Hunter, but he had vanished.

=][=

Shirou felt that Raven was sending him mixed signals. As soon as he'd gotten out of sight from Yang and Ruby, she had picked him up and jumped back into the tree tops. She was currently holding him much more gently to her as she watched the house, the sounds of shouting and weeping could be heard from inside it.

Raven's grip tightened at those sounds, but nowhere near the crushing pressure of a few hours before. The feeling of her body's warmth pressed against his back was strangely reassuring. And the feeling of the back of his head pressed against her chest made being held very awkward for him.

"Why don't you go to them?" he asked quietly, and he felt Raven tense behind him.

She turned away and began to jump from tree to tree, cutting off his view of the home. It was…strange to be carried. Or…well…carried gently, the feeling of the wind on his face was fairly relaxing.

"Because I don't deserve to," she said after a while. "Besides, I won't be coming back."

"Why?" he asked.

Her gaze sharpened until it could bore through trees, and she came to a slow halt. Her hold on him tightened further until it was almost painful, but there was no malignancy in it, he could feel her whole body trembling against his back.

"Because I saved her once," she said levelly, her voice betraying nothing of the emotion her body did, nonetheless there was a brittleness to her words. "As my father and mother did for me, survival of the fittest. She was protected once, that's all she gets. From now on she needs to grow strong on her own, or fall by the wayside."

Shirou placed his hands over one of hers, specifically the one holding him to her chest, which was the only one he could reach.

"But you didn't save her." he said quietly. "I did."

There was a long moment of silence before she pleadingly asked. "What?"

"I'm the one that saved Yang…so you still haven't saved her." he said, patting her hand gently. "You still have to watch over her, cause you haven't saved her yet."

The pressure with which she held him to her relented slightly, before she took a deep breath and huffed it out.

"You're right," she said, her voice stronger, less fragile. She took a deep breath before sighing, when next she spoke, her tone was hesitant. "Do you…wanna look around Vale?"

"What is that? Is it nearby?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's the capital of Vale, you know, the kingdom?" she said.

"Huh…didn't know that." he said, "Think we can find the green-eyed girl there?"

Raven began to move, jumping from tree to tree. "We can certainly try. How do you not know about the kingdom of Vale? What has Vernal been teaching you?"

"She showed me how to recognize the words 'For the Sword Hunter' and hasn't really taught me anything beyond that." he said, "She usually just tells me to do her laundry and cook her something."

Raven muttered something about 'teaching that useless bint to follow orders.'

"Wait," she said, looking down at him. "Why are you still wearing that armor and cloak?"

He looked up at her and blinked in confusion. "I…have nothing else to wear? I've been keeping it clean."

Raven closed her eyes and sighed.


	6. Chapter 5

Posting this a wee bit early cause I'mma be busy most of saturday. So if I take longer than usual to respond, don't hold it against me.

Beta is still busy. So gonna be a wee bit rough. Hope you guys like it anyways.

As always. If you liked it, drop me a review and lemme know what you liked.

If you didn't...well...you're a terrible person, clearly, but drop me a review anyways and lemme know what it is you didn't like.

Also, I don't mean for Guest reviewers NOT to review! I'm just sayin' that unless ya log in I can't talk back! Don't just leave me hangin'! Gimme sum reviews brah!

Bit of a random experiment I wanna try. If you feel like it, drop me a review and lemme know where you're from! According to the site I have people reading this thing from AAAALL over, and I'm rather curious to know if that's true of if it's just a VPN.

Not that I can verify anything. So I can only ask people to be honest about what country they're in if they feel like letting me know.

Though if you ARE gonna lie. Go for something outrageous. Like...uhh...the Roman Empire or something.

Man this author's note is kinda rambly. Sorry about tha'

On to the chapter! Hope you like it!

Strategic Table Flip!

(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

=][=

Shirou held his breath as Raven stepped through the portal. It didn't help. He felt his whole body shudder and sweat beaded on his brow in reaction to traveling through it.

They had searched for the green-eyed girl for hours and they'd seen several with the right eye color, but none were her. Raven had also insisted on buying him clothes. Which was nice, except he didn't really have a tent or anything to store the clothes in. Maybe he could squeeze them into her wardrobe?

He put his bundle together and started to head for the tent flap, he'd need to at least wash them to get rid of the new clothes smell.

He got most of the way there before Raven plucked him from the ground. He was going to have to get used to that, she seemed pretty fond of it.

"You can't go out," she said with a huff. "Qrow is definitely still around, if you go out he'll see you, and he'll probably try and kidnap you."

Shirou blinked. "Will he go away if I throw swords at him?"

"No," she said flatly, plopping him down on a cushion with surprising gentleness, she usually tossed him and let him figure out the landing. "He's a strong fighter, and as much as he annoys me, I don't want my brother skewered. You'll just have to stay in here for a few days, he'll give up eventually."

He blinked and looked up at her. "So…what will I do?"

She sat down next to him with a sigh. "About?"

"I mean…here, what will I do? If I can't go out hunting and cleaning…how will I pay back my debt?" he said slowly, his brows furrowing down in thought. "I still don't know how much I owe you so I can use your Semblance."

She blinked, twice, then sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "You're pretty relentless aren't you ki-Shirou?"

"I…don't think so?" he asked slowly.

Raven sighed and plopped her hand down on the top of his head, gripped it lightly, and moved it back it forth gently.

Was she trying to pat his head? Because if so her technique was rather lacking.

"Whatever k-Shirou, a few day's break won't make a difference." she said.

"That's not true," he denied. "Every little bit counts, you said so yourself."

Her hand stopped moving his head back and forth and flicked him on the forehead. "Then I'm ordering you to take a break."

He opened his mouth to protest, and she flicked his forehead again.

He frowned, and opened his mouth again, only to be flicked, again.

"Stop that!" he said, bringing a hand to his beleaguered brow.

"Stop trying to talk me into letting you out," she said primly. "You're staying inside this tent until I tell you otherwise, and that's final."

Shirou frowned and stared at the table.

Raven snorted. "No need to pout."

"I'm not pouting," he said, pouting.

Raven snorted and went to the tent flap. "Hey Vernal!" she screamed into the camp. "Bring me some tea! And bring me a notebook and a pencil!"

She walked back and sat next to him. Belatedly, Vernal came in holding a tray, her eyes landed on the two of them and Shirou saw them harden in annoyance for an instant.

"Here is the tea," she said, putting the tray down on the table, then set a notebook and pencil down next to it.

"Vernal," Raven said, "you forgot something."

Vernal frowned. "I did?"

"Yes," Raven said with a small, cold smile. "You forgot to bring Shirou a cup."

Vernal tensed.

"I'll be teaching him to read," Vernal flinched. "So I have no doubt he'll get thirsty…I think you should apologize," Raven continued in a sing-song tone. "After all, one should apologize for making mistakes."

Shirou opened his mouth, only for Raven to flick him on the forehead again. He felt his eyes water, she struck the exact same spot _every time_.

"I'm. Sorry." Vernal spat out between grit teeth, her face so red it would put a sunset to shame.

"Good!" Raven said, beaming. "It's good to see that you are able to understand when you've made a mistake. Run along now, and don't forget to bring him a cup."

Vernal strode out, her back ramrod straight, red to the tips of her ears.

"I think she hates me now," Shirou said neutrally.

"Probably," Raven said, pouring herself a cup of tea. "But she was getting too full of herself for being my adjutant, she'd need to be humbled sooner or later, it's better that it happened now."

Shirou blinked and tilted his head while looking at Raven. He had to admit, maybe she did make a good leader?

Vernal strode back in, holding a small ceramic cup in a white-knuckled grip.

"Here," she said tersely.

Shirou was about to take hold of the cup, only for Raven to take his wrist in a firm grip.

"Manners," Raven chided, giving Vernal a disapproving look.

Vernal's face turned red again, the young woman took a deep breath, and when she spoke her voice was clear of any emotion. "My apologies for my mistake and terseness, I hope you can forgive me. Here is your cup."

Raven let go of his wrist, and Shirou extended his hand to take the cup. As soon as it was secure in his grip, she turned on her heel and strode out. Her back irradiating anger.

Raven wordlessly filled his cup.

"Okay," she said, opening the notebook to the first page and scribbling quickly. "I hope you're a good student because I am certainly not a good teacher. Here are the letters of the alphabet…"

Over the next few hours, Raven went over the letters, the sounds they made, and the beginning rules of the written language, as well as making him write out the letters for practice. She jumped from topic to topic with neither rhyme nor reason, and more than once descended into a strange tangent.

Shirou became particularly self-conscious when Raven, tired of leaning to the side to monitor his work, or of him leaning over her legs to pay attention to what she wrote, decided to pluck him by the scruff of the neck and plopped him down on her lap.

Still, he did learn quite a lot over the next few days. Only a little of which had anything to do with reading.

=][=

It took Raven three long weeks to decide it was safe for Shirou to leave her tent.

Which was good. Because he was about ready to explode. His stamina wasn't good enough to do physical training for the entirety of the day. And there were only so many hours that could be poured into practicing reading, particularly when he was alone.

Still, the very instant she declared it safe he ran out and went hunting. Waving back at Raven's shouted, "Don't waste time hunting grimm!"

He came back late in the day, having _murdered_ as many grimm as he could. Since he didn't technically _hunt_ grimm, he didn't disobey her.

In the morning he trained and hunted, and tested his skills by killing as many grimm as he could. In the afternoon and early evening he'd cook, clean, repair, and sew. And in the evenings he brushed Raven's hair, drank tea with her and learned whatever she felt like teaching him. Raven would take him with him to watch over her daughter, and every couple of weeks, she'd take him to one of the continents, to a town or city, so he could look for the green-eyed girl.

One particularly bright morning, he came back to the camp from his hunting, dragging a deer carcass. As he walked through the camp's gates, he was met with the warriors of the tribe as they were leaving.

"Ah Shirou, good," he turned toward the sound of Raven's voice, and saw her holding her corvid helmet under her left arm. She smirked at him. "I was starting to worry we'd have to leave without you."

Shirou blinked. "Leave? Where are we going?"

She wordlessly took hold of the carcass, and tossed it off to the side one-handed. "Come on, we're going on a raid. And you're coming with us."

Shirou blinked, twice.

"No need to be nervous!" Raven said, completely misreading his reticence with a smack on the back. "I've seen you train. I bet you're a better fighter than most of these louts!"

"But…Raven, I…I mean." he mumbled.

"Don't worry, you won't be fighting, you're just going as our cook." she said, grabbing his head and tossing it gently about. "You're eventually going to be one of the raiding force, it'll be a good experience for you. Besides, Vernal will look after you."

Well that made things even more awkward. He turned to Vernal, who was of course glaring at him, and cast about for something to say.

"Hey Vernal," he began slowly. "Why are you only wearing one pant leg rolled up?"

Vernal's icy blue eyes blinked in confusion, before looking down at her legs. Her right pant leg was indeed rolled up almost to her hip, showing off the garter strap that held up a thick leather stocking, while her left pant leg was tucked into the other leather stocking that came up to her thigh. Her face immediately colored.

"B-Because it's more tactically advantageous this way!" she snapped.

"I…Really?" Shirou asked. "Because…well…any holster you tie to your leg would go just as well over pant le-"

"Shut up!" she screeched.

"See?" Raven said with a barked laugh. "Getting along already. Now come on."

Shirou followed the warriors of the tribe. There were boasts and bets about who would steal the most, who would beat up the most uppity townsmen and whether or not 'Raven's pet' would be of any use.

Shirou for his own part merely walked, he wasn't particularly close with anyone in the tribe other than Raven. And she would be busy keeping the other warriors in line. He went off several times to forage for wild berries and vegetables, Vernal following, muttering vindictively.

That night, when the warriors of the tribe set up camp. Shirou looked through the supplies they'd brought and had to settle for making a simple stew. They'd brought a lot of canned food of different kinds, but it was all so heavily salted…ugh. Still, he did what he could, using his strengthening ability on the ingredients on a whim. Surprisingly, it made the food taste richer, so he labeled that experiment a success.

He loaded up bowls for himself, Vernal, and Raven. And carefully walked to where Raven was holding a quiet conversation with Vernal, sitting on a nearby tree stump.

"-at we won't have enough time to rans…Ah, Shirou." Raven cut herself off as she saw him approach, Vernal glared at him over her shoulder.

Shirou blinked and said. "I made dinner."

"Right," Raven said, and picked up a bowl from the wooden tray he was carrying.

She took one spoonful and paused, staring down at the food. Then silently continued shoveling the stew into her mouth.

Vernal was alternating glaring at her bowl and him.

"How did you make all the slop we brought taste good?" Raven asked as she absently dipped some hard bread into her bowl.

"I cooked it?" Shirou asked, wondering if he should mention pushing his Aura into the ingredients.

"Well, you did good." Raven said, grabbed the top of his head and tossed it about gently. Shirou felt a strange warmth bloom in his chest, he decided he liked that feeling and resolved himself to try harder to make meals tasty.

"Thanks for the food," Vernal ground out.

Shirou looked at his own bowl and realized he'd forgotten to eat. He gulped his food down, took their bowls, and went to wash them. Just within the edge of hearing he heard Raven take up the conversation they'd dropped.

"If the wind blows in a bad way, the fire will hinder _us_ a lot more than it might hinder the town." Raven muttered, causing Shirou to stiffen.

"We have more people for this raid," Vernal retorted. "But we have seriously dropped in quality, without Joey, Greene, and Violet, we are a lot more vulnerable now than we were on the last raid."

Shirou forced himself to walk forward. Shaking his head vigorously.

"Tribe first," he muttered to himself. "Need to think about tribe first."

=][=

It took a couple of days to reach the town they were attacking. But once there, the tribe hid in the woods, waiting for the cover of darkness. They had surprisingly strong discipline as there was very little talking or noise.

Shirou's stomach was twisting itself up into knots his breath coming in short quick pants. Every instinct in him screamed to warn the town, to let them know they were under threat.

But if he warned the town. The tribe would be in danger, if the tribe was in danger, Raven would be in danger. And if Raven was in danger, she might be hurt. If she got hurt, he'd not be able to use her Semblance. If he couldn't use Raven's Semblance, finding the green-eyed girl would be more difficult.

The logic only made him feel worse.

"Why are you panicking?" Vernal whispered snappishly. "We're not even going to get to participate in the raid."

Shirou looked up at her, and concentrated very hard on not vomiting. "I…It's just…"

"Whatever." Vernal said, rolling her eyes.

A flare was shot into the air, the signal for the attack.

Only Vernal's far-away scream and air whistling past his ears made him realized he was moving. Jumping from tree to tree and root to root on his way to the town. He made it to the town wall and climbed over it in seconds, then dropped into the town beyond. He rushed into an alley, and froze.

What good was it to _be_ in the town? He still couldn't act.

That's where the gunshots and screaming started. He felt his body lock up, pushed and pulled by opposite urges.

He had to protect the town's people.

He had to please Raven.

The world was spinning, his lunch was a solid block of poison in his stomach, the night was too bright, his blood thundered in his ears as his breaths came in ever quickening lung-filling wheezes. He was leaning against something and it wasn't very steady. Focusing his eyes was a herculean effort but he managed. The none-too-steady thing he was leaning against was the floor which rocked back and forth sickeningly.

Static filled his sight and hearing. It felt as if something inside him was cracking. Something that would shatter if bent any farther. So he did the only thing he could, and fled.

=][=

Shirou came to with a start. Looking around, he saw that night had well and truly fallen, how had he come to be here?

He couldn't remember, he remembered…

Something in his chest hurt. He decided not to try and remember what it was he forgot. He blinked when he realized he could smell burning wood and hear cries for water.

He stood on unsteady legs. And marveled that the world was no longer roiling. Someone's house was on fire, maybe he could help by joining a bucket line.

And that's when he heard an animalistic howl. Screams followed soon after.

He was off as if fired from a cannon. It didn't take him long to run into the first grimm as it leapt at an old man. It died skewered to the floor by a claymore. Shirou didn't so much as slow down.

But it wasn't enough.

He flooded his body with energy until the entirety of his being screamed in agony, forcing himself to _go faster._

But it wasn't enough.

Wherever he strode, grimm died. Big and small, in land or air, grimm died pinned to the ground, to the sides of buildings, beheaded, bifurcated, pincushioned, burst open, torn apart.

But it wasn't enough.

The quaint streets and buildings around him flickered. Wood houses with tile roofs becoming tall buildings of steel and asphalt before turning back. The smoke went from a gray acrid haze, to an oppressive black wall that seemed to want to claw its way down his throat.

"I'm sorry!" he said to a burnt skeleton that reached a clawed hand out to him, its eyes having boiled and burst in its sockets.

"I'm sorry!" he pleaded to a corpse that had been crushed under boiling concrete.

But it wasn't enough. They condemned him, with disgust and scorn they condemned him. Demanding he die with them, reviling him for forgetting about them.

"You swore!" they raged at him. "You swore!"

And he had no answer for them. So he did the only thing he could do, and killed grimm.


	7. Chapter 6

So...

... ...

... ... ...

This story has over a thousand followers.

...insert Jesus/Black Jesus/Korean Jesus meme.

WHY!? _HOW!? **POR QUE!?**_

Escuse pero nani di fak!? (If someone can think of a word in a 6th language I can add to this. Let me know.)

Not gonna lie. I'm officially scared. Hory shet.

Also! Thanks to everyone that dropped me a review telling me where y'all's from. (Look at that. Y'all's, that is correct. It is literally correct. Isn't english just fun? _Someone strangle the english language!_) I was really surprised by the range of places people mentioned! The idea that people from all over are reading my tripe is frankly mind-blowing.

SO! One important thing to point out that came up in conversation with a reviewer. I'm not exactly doing a slow-burn story here. Yes I'm skipping past weeks and months in the story. But that's because I'm not exactly trying to write a novel here. A lot of what happens in those months is "Shirou goes about his day, settles into a routine. Does the same thing day in and day out. The Branwen tribe gets used to having him around. Raven gets progressively less aggressive and difficult to live with as she gets used to having a brat around. They bond over daily breakfast, hair styling, and nightly reading/whatever lessons."

Yes that could be interested to write and maybe even read. But it's not what I'm hoping to explore here. So I'm skipping past a lot of it and leaving it to the reader to fill in the blanks. I'm more interested in writing the really interesting bits, so the narrative will skip forward a bunch. Mayhaps that's not _ideal_ but them's the shakes.

Oh well. At least I'm still having fun writing this. And that's the real victory! **Insert: Good To Know Rainbow.**

Still actually putting down words on that other RWBY crossover I was writing before I started on this thing. So I've got that going for me. Which is nice.

My Beta still hasn't gotten back to me. Guy's been silent for a coupla weeks. Kinda worried for the guy, but what can ya do? Hopefully his computer didn't implode or anything. How this affects _you_ is that I still am terrible at punctuation and possibly grammar...and syntax overall.

In point of fact I shouldn't even be writing! Cause I suck!

Speaking of sucking. If you like this chapter, drop me a review and let me know why! Don't worry about having bad grammar or being rambly! Reading reviews is one of the things that helps me stay motivated! So drop me a review!

If you don't like the chapter. As I am rather certain a loooooooot of you won't (titters in anticipation of SALT!) drop me a review and let me know why! (does Dr. Evil pose) M'nyes Mr. Bond! Do let me know why!

...okay that was weird even for me. And lemme tell ya something bubbah, that's saying something.

Oh right. I might as well take advantage of the fact that this has literally over a thousand followers to shine some light on some annoyingly consistent fanon. This being...

Shirou's "Atrophied" circuits. I have a rant of this over in my FSN/Nanoha crossover "Fateful Distractions" that goes into more detail. But tldr: Magic Circuits do not atrophy unless they are literally destroyed by some weird spell/mystery. Or some really insane super curse. They're not physical things, they are mystical things that interact with the physical. If he unlocked them when he was an old and decrepit man, they'd be just as efficient as unlocking them when he is a kid.

Last I checked, we don't even know for sure how good or bad they are. We know that in comparison to _Tohsaka mofoing Rin_ they're trash. But then again, Rin is an nth generation magus with insane pedigree AND is a genius with an Element and Origin you can only hope to get once every few generations. Meaning, she's absolutely insane.

The whole "Shirou's atrophied circuits" thing is fanon that was started, as best as I can tell, by Gabriel Blessings.

More information in the aforementioned crossover. The author's note for that is in CH 10 if you feel like reading my rant on it.

Or don't, I'm not the boss of you.

This author's note is getting way too long. Let me just preemptively say, there is method to my madness! But don't be afraid of dropping me a review and letting me know why you're unhappy. Just remember! Raven still has _no gosh dingus darned_ idea how to mom.

But she is _really good_ at what she does. And she strikes me as the type of person that sticks to what she knows.

Well this is long enough. So without further ado.

Bring the salt! (ಠ_ಠ)

=][=

"Alright! Keep it moving you louts!" Raven hollered at the raiding group as they streamed past her. "You can get drunk later! Cut the bitching and keep moving!"

It looked like the take for today would be pretty good, not to mention that she wasn't seeing any injuries more serious than a few scrapes. All in all, not a bad night of work.

"Raven!" she turned and saw Vernal jogging to her. She frowned when she saw that Vernal didn't seem to have Shirou with her. "The kid disappeared!"

Raven blinked, twice. "Come again?"

"The moment the flare went up!" she gasped. "He just charged into town! Hells he was the first one in! I have no idea where he went!"

Raven blinked. To think the kid had that much killer instinct…then again she probably should have suspected it. He was always asking how to pay off the debt she'd made up, he'd clearly figured that the best way to prove himself was in a raid.

Yes she'd expressly told him he wouldn't participate and he'd gone against her instructions, meaning she'd have to give him a beating so he learned not to disobey orders, but his heart was in the right place.

"It's fine," Raven said with a shake of her head. "You take over here, I'll find him."

She was off before Vernal could say anything further.

Raven kicked herself as she ran in the direction of the town. Shirou should have pulled out when he saw everyone else retreating, and since she had expected him to remain with Vernal she had not bothered to let him know of the rendezvous location. So chances were he was either still fighting or had escaped into the forest in the middle of the night.

Still, it was good to see that he had that much spirit. He was usually so quiet and subservient that she'd almost forgotten how dangerous the kid could be. Still, turning into a raven and looking for him in the middle of the night would not work.

Raven's Semblance, Kindred Link, allowed her to create a portal in the nearby vicinity of someone she had a strong emotional bond with. 'A very kind Semblance,' Ozpin had called it, the bastard.

She wasn't the most sociable person on Remnant, but she had been friendly enough with enough people in school. Most of whom were dead or she hadn't spoken to in years. Point was, she had a strong enough bond with at least one person in every continent.

The bond with Shirou had been something of a surprise. Somewhere along the line he had just…crept in. She wasn't sure how to feel about that, except that it would be helpful now, she opened the portal to be near his location and jumped through.

Only to be smacked in the face by the heat of an out of control blaze.

"What the!?" she coughed, covering her mouth she cast around looking for Shirou.

A wall to her left exploded as a small red blur jumped through it and she saw that he was carrying a kid that was bigger than him. He dropped the kid he'd just saved and dove back into the flames. Raven backed off and hid in the dancing shadows cast by the burning building.

Five trips Shirou made into that inferno each time carrying or dragging someone out. There was a manic light in his eyes as he cast them around before rushing off down a street.

Raven turned into a bird and followed.

She saw him throw his small frame fearlessly into burning buildings as well as charge at and destroy grimm. Each time he would save a person or dispatch a grimm he would cast around without pause. Feverishly throwing himself into danger over and over.

It took hours for him to slow down on a street, and fall to his knees, she fluttered down to a barrel and heard him muttering "Never again. I promised. Never again." over and over.

She caught a glimpse of his eyes, they were wide and bloodshot, yet vacant, staring blankly. She could not help but wonder what it is that he was seeing.

"It's not enough," he said, his voice sounding strange. As if it should be deeper than it was. He raised his hands in front of his face and closed his eyes, then muttered "Trace, on."

Raven had had enough, she jumped off the barrel and turned back into her true form.

"**My Body Is Made Of Swords."** A deep voice intoned and Raven felt something _tug_ at her guts. Blue-green lights blazed into being along Shirou's arms, they soon glowed bright yellow then a blinding white.

"**My Blood Is Of Iron, My Heart Is Of Glass."** Raven felt sick to her stomach, vertigo assaulted her as the world seemed to _fold_. Blue sparks began to pop between his fingers and Raven realized that his hands were curled around…something. As if he were holding something cylindrical, a hilt. He was doing that thing with his Semblance.

She ducked silently back and hid, she had seen him make a hairbrush before as well as that blade storm the day she met him, as well as pinpoint attacks tonight. This seemed to be something else though, something more…involved.

The sparks became long lines of lightning which spread out into the rough form of a blade, then with a flash of blue light a long corkscrew weapon settled into his grip. It was slender and from the spiral's edges sprouted steel thorns. It was twice as long as Shirou was tall, yet he held it without trouble.

Raven felt a breeze gently stir her dress. The smell of smoke was vanished and replaced by the scent of petrichor. She felt something stir within her, something in the weapon called to her, challenged her. She could feel the power she hid reacting jealously to this intrusion into its domain. She almost stepped out of her hiding place to put him in his place but forcibly restrained herself.

A whirlwind formed around him as the weapon began to emit a soft white light, pulsing with the tempo of a quickening heartbeat. The sword began to vibrate, it didn't emit a sound that she could hear but she _felt_ its vibrations through her whole body. Not long after the walls of the buildings around her began to shake as well, the wind picked up, the smell of rain becoming stronger.

"Storm Ruler!" Shirou screamed and jumped into the air just high enough to reverse his grip on the weapon and plunge it into the ground to the hilt. Immediately she felt it release a pulse into the earth, she felt it both from the power within her and through the soles of her feet. Something _flexed_ and a vast shadow began to blot out the stars, soon even the moon was swallowed. She could feel the far-off winds being forced to drive clouds onwards.

The skies rumbled with unreleased fury. The winds wanted to rage and howl and rend but something held them at bay. Something calmed and scattered them leaving just enough of their fury behind for a _deluge_ to begin.

Shirou released the sword and staggered back from it and Raven tensed to pick him up.

"How'd you do that!?" the sound caused both her and Shirou to jump. A young dog-eared faunus was holding a scroll pointed at Shirou in a trembling grip. "You did that didn't you!? You're the Sword Hunter!"

Shirou stared at the faunus long and hard. And then in a whirl of his half-cape, he was gone.

"Wait!" came the belated cry. Raven ignored the idiot, she threw a knife at his scroll and absently jumped to the nearest roof to follow after her wayward assassin.

He made a beeline for the edge of the town. Stopping a few times to help someone, but fleeing the very instant anyone tried to thank him.

Raven grit her teeth. To think he was holding _this much_ back. She was going to have to teach him to be more honest with her.

Just like last time, a few of the more adept of the town tried to follow him. But in the pitch black of a stormy night they managed little more than dirtying their clothes. Even Raven nearly lost him a time or two so frantic was his flight.

She did not know how long she followed him, but light began to push through the clouds bathing the world in grey-tinted light, and the storm in turn became a slow drenching shower. She came upon a clearing where he slowed to a stop, put his back to a tree and slid down it to the grass. He proceeded to pull his legs to his chest and pressed his face against his knees, moments later she could hear quiet sobs through the gentle pitter patter of rain.

She steeled herself and marched forward, he looked exhausted and it was likely he was low in Aura, which meant that now would be the safest time to discipline him.

She planted herself in front of him and crossed her arms beneath her breasts, and growled, "Shi-ro-u."

He shuddered and looked up at her. His breath coming in great heaving sobs.

"Stand up!" she demanded.

Slowly, unsteadily, he pushed himself to his feet.

"Take off the mask!"

Again he quietly did as she demanded, the rain instantly drenching his hair and face the moment they were exposed. She stomped forward, twisted her hips and torso, and drove her fist into his stomach so hard that his feet came off the ground, the impact smashing his breath out of him in one great whoosh.

He fell back to the ground, his legs collapsing under him as he vomited the scant contents of his stomach onto the grass.

"Stand up!" she shouted.

Again, he pushed himself to his feet on unsteady legs. Again, she drove her fist into his stomach, leaving him to dry heave on the ground.

"Stand up!" she demanded, and was surprised when he complied with his legs shaking like a new born foal's. This time she followed through on her punch until his back slammed into the tree trunk, pinning him in place when she did not draw back.

"Do you know why you are being punished?" she growled.

Shirou coughed.

She grabbed the collar of his armor and raised him to her eye level, his hands holding her wrist with a weak grip.

"You are being punished because you ran away from Vernal. You are being punished because you ran into the town _after_ I explicitly told you that you weren't part of the raiding group. But most of all," she drove her fist into his stomach again, causing him to spasm and lose what little breath he'd managed to regain. "You are being punished because you forgot the most important law I taught you. Tribe! First!"

She flung him to the ground, where he landed with none of the grace and agility he usually displayed when she threw him about. He lay there, curled up in a ball, coughing until he was able to take a single deep breath.

He pushed himself slowly to hands and knees, but couldn't rise any farther. She walked slowly to him, causing him to cringe back as she crouched next to him. "Now your antics will _definitely_ be tied to the tribe, idiots might well come from far and wide looking for you."

She grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and roughly plucked him off the ground and set him down on his feet, only his grip on her wrist keeping him upright. "_Qrow_ will come looking the moment he comes across the video that idiot took. So why don't you tell me exactly what the _hells_ you thought you were doing!?"

"I was helping the tow-" he was cut off by Raven as she slapped him so hard he was flung face-first into the muddy grass. He raised his face off the ground and spat out the mud he'd accidentally inhaled.

"You were _helping the town!" _she screamed at his prone form. "The town we _just finished raiding!_ You obviously weren't _thinking_ were you!? And what the _hells_ did you do!? How did you make it rain!?"

"T-The sword," he coughed out. "The sword made it-"

He cut off as she lifted him off the ground again by the collar, his legs kicking uselessly at the air. "So you had an artefact sword on you, this entire time, and never saw fit to _tell me._ Your _leader._"

He licked his lips, his eyes wide and afraid. "Y-You never ask-"

He cut off with a cry as she slammed him against the tree trunk.

"Okay," she said, taking a deep breath. "You're an amnesiac, clearly you don't remember how this is supposed to work."

She loomed over him, all but pressing her nose against his. "You do what you're told, you don't keep secrets from me, you don't go behind my back, _you don't bring danger to the tribe!_ Do I make myself clear!?"

"Y-Yes," Shirou coughed out.

"Good," she said with forced calm. "Now apologize for what you did, and we'll make our way back to camp."

He remained quiet, his eyes were still afraid but she could see a deep light of stubbornness enkindle in them.

"Shirou," she growled.

He opened and closed his mouth a few times before saying. "It cannot be wrong to help people."

Raven felt her left eye twitch.

"Shirou," she said in as calm a voice as she could muster. "I order you to apologize."

He liked his lips nervously, and repeated in a trembling voice. "It cannot be wrong to help people."

She shifted her grip on his collar until he was being choked by his own cloak.

"I'm going to start beating you now." Raven said in a too-calm tone. "I will stop when you apologize."

She then let go of him, and as he scraped down the trunk she drove her knee into his stomach hard enough to rustle the leaves of the tree behind him, what small amount of stomach acid remained in him dribbled out over her stocking. She retracted her leg, and he fell the rest of the way to the ground where he stayed, curling as tight as he could around his stomach. She crouched next to him, grabbed a handful of his hair and brought his head up off the ground.

"Are you ready to apologize?" she asked neutrally.

"It's…not wrong…to help people." he forced out weakly.

Raven's other hand curled into a fist.

=][=

Hours passed, Raven had punched, kneed, kicked, slapped, headbutted, and thrown him. He had passed out twice and she had waited patiently for him to wake up before continuing. But no matter what she did the stubborn light in his eyes remained. Both afraid and unrepentant.

He stared back at her, his eyes streaming from the pain, trembling from head to foot but defiant nonetheless, not once raising a hand against her which she found odd. He should have recovered enough of his Aura by that point that he could have fought back…yet he hadn't.

Raven was finding this whole passive resistance crap rather infuriating. Not to mention her knuckles were feeling really sore.

She looked down at his bruised and battered form, lying as he was, pinned under her as she straddled his hips. Absently she delivered another savage blow at his side, causing him to emit a low, pained moan. He didn't react in any way other than that, with her pinning him he couldn't even curl around the wound.

Was he too exhausted to fight back? Or was he simply choosing not to? Damn swords-for-brains.

"Are you ready to apologize?" she asked tiredly.

He emitted a pained groan. His eyes screaming that no, he would never apologize for protecting someone.

She rolled her wrist, feeling and haring it crackle.

"I shall choose to take that as an apology." she growled.

She stood up and stretched. The moment he was free, Shirou moaned and tried to curl around the worst of his pain. Which currently was just about everywhere.

Raven saw that and felt a pang of guilt stir inside her, a pang that was ruthlessly quashed. The idiot kid had brought it upon himself! All he'd needed to do was apologize! Just one little apology and she would have ended it then and there!

She sighed, putting one hand under his head, the other under his legs, and gently scooping him up off the floor.

"Don't squirm." she chided gently. "You'll only make yourself more uncomfortable."

She felt him nod, emitting a low moan or a sharp intake of breath with each of her steps, one of his hands clenched tight on her dress and he proceeded to pass into unconsciousness.

When he began to moan and mutter nonsense Raven stopped and looked down at him. His face was scrunched up, in pain or anger she wasn't sure but it was different from his usual scowl. He panted and pulled himself closer to her, muttering "I promised" over and over.

She couldn't help but wonder where his resolve came from. Adult members of the tribe had folded after taking less than a third of the beating this child had, and they certainly hadn't done so lying down.

Raven knew that he could fight back, she was fairly certain that he couldn't kill her once her guard was up but he could certainly push her. It would be difficult to duck and weave through an endless storm of blades after all.

But the kid simply…hadn't. Almost as if he accepted the beating as the price for aiding others.

"Dumbass kid," she growled.

Raven wondered what to do, taking him back to camp as he was…was less than ideal. She was always busy in the aftermath of a raid…maybe Vernal would actually be able to hold him down now that he was hurt?

The storm started to pick up pace again, and with a growl she set off looking for a place to get out from under the rain, bemoaning the fact that she couldn't turn into a bird big enough to carry the kid.

It was after she walked for a few hours with Shirou drifting in and out of consciousness. That she found what looked to be an abandoned house, it was entirely covered in creepers and the windows she could see were smashed, but it was better than nothing.

She kicked the door open, or at least she tried. The hinges were so thoroughly rusted that the entire thing simply came off the frame and fell in. She stepped inside, checking the corners and listening for any sign of habitation. The place looked to have been abandoned in a relative hurry as there were a few pieces of furniture covered in dust-coated plastic tarps.

The roof didn't seem to be leaking however so she counted it a win. She shuffled her burden so she could carry him with one arm and threw back the tarp on what she correctly guessed was a couch. Giving it a quick inspection and deciding it wasn't _too_ moth-eaten, she knelt and gently set down her bundle of stupid.

When she tried to get up his grip on her dress stopped her. She took hold of his wrist to pry it off, and found herself merely holding on to him.

"Stupid swords-for-brains." she muttered and knelt down next to the couch as Shirou coughed in his sleep. She put a hand on his head and brushed his bangs off his forehead, with a frown she realized he wasn't nearly as wet as he should be, looking closely his clothes seemed almost dry. For a moment she wondered exactly what material they were made out of before dismissing the thought as unimportant.

"Why'd you have to go and make me beat you up? All you had to do was say you're sorry, you didn't even have to mean it. Stupid." She sighed and scratched the side of her head. "Seriously, what am I even doing?"

She sighed again and popped her knuckles one by one, when she looked back to Shirou, she saw he was awake. And staring right at her.

The worst thing was that his eyes were, as usual, apathetic. They didn't blame her, they weren't angry, if anything he seemed to be a little afraid but strangely enough, not afraid _of_ her. She opened her mouth to tell him off, but nothing came out. So she promptly closed her mouth and stared back.

He let go of her dress, laying his hand down on the couch next to his head, and continued his unblinking stare.

The prickly silence between them grew longer and longer. The longer the silence grew, the more Raven was sure she'd messed it all up. Either he hated her or he was afraid of her. Out of the two the latter was more useful, but in her haste to teach him a lesson she had probably alienated him, completely shattering whatever modicum of trust that had come to be between the two of them. She'd not be able to use him in the role she had already envisioned because fear did not lend itself to forging true loyalty.

She clicked her tongue and turned around so her back was facing the couch, no longer able to bear the weight of that stare. She immediately kicked herself for showing weakness. _Now_ he'd think she was soft, which might well mean she'd have to give him another beating in the future when he thought he could get away with going behind her back. That would only further erode their relationship, not to mention that keeping him against his will would certainly not be worth the hassle of dealing with blade storms.

Maybe…maybe she should offload him onto Qrow?

She felt something pulling at her hair, she peeked over her shoulder and saw Shirou slowly and gently running that brush through her sodden hair, gritting his teeth so hard that she could hear them grinding against each other, ignoring the pain that even the slightest movement had to cause him.

Maybe things weren't so bad, she could at the very least try keeping him around a little longer.

"Stupid," she muttered, turning around and gently taking the brush from him. "You're hurt, just lie down and sleep."

He moaned and once more took hold of her dress with a shaking hand, he winced as he took a deep breath and winced again as he wheezed out. "I'm sorry…I won't…apologize."

Raven blinked. Twice.

"I can't…apologize," he continued, taking a short painful wheeze in between every word. "I can't…betray…I promised…I forgot but…I promised…I can't apologize but…please don't…don't…hate me."

Raven sighed and gently pried his hand off her dress and held onto it, she could feel his hand trembling in hers as he tried to grip her hand.

"I don't hate you," she said tiredly. "Just go to sleep."

"Promise?" he coughed.

Raven sighed morosely. "Yes Shirou, I promise."

His eyes drifted shut and he was out like a light. To think the idiot kid would apologize for not apologizing, she wasn't entirely sure how to feel about that.

"'Don't hate me' is it?" She sighed again, "Damn kids."


	8. Chapter 7

Well, 'nother Saturday. Time for 'nother upload.

You know. I was so excited last saturday for all the Raven hate, I forgot to tell you guys that there would be kudos for whoever spotted the reference.

Well, to the two guys in the reviews that spotted Storm Ruler, Kudos to you! 8D

No this does not mean I'm bringing a bunch of video game super swords into this. It was just a reference for funsies. I've probably already lost the purists among you because of that.

Last chapter got quiiiiite a bit of hate. Much like I expected. Well you felt that way reading it, imagine how I felt writing it brah. ._.

Seriously, it made me so morose I stopped writing for like, a whole week! Good thing the chapter has been finished for some weeks otherwise I might have fallen behind.

Speaking of falling behind. I'm catching up to what I have written. I need to step it back up. It's just that work has been pretty tough. So I've not been able to get much writing done. ;_;

As to all the Raven hate...well yeah. Try and look at it from her perspective peeps. She's a bandit, grew up among thugs. Something tells me the parenting style she grew up with is something along the lines of "I'm gonna beat you until you shit and them I'm gonna beat you for shitting!" She kinda backed herself into a corner there with the whole "I'm gonna beat you until you do as I say."

See, anyone _sane _would just say what she wants to hear. Which frankly it's what she wants. He's not doing what he's told right after she beat him for not doing what he's told, to her bandit queen persuasion, this is disrespecting her authority. And in that cutthroat environment, that's the first step to getting deposed. Hence the beating, after all, it's worked every single time before. Why change what ain't broken?

Unfortunately for everyone involved. Shirou is uhh...well...goshdarned insane. =,=

The guy don't care about pain. Unfortunately, once she started, Raven couldn't stop without, to her mind, seeming 'soft.' Which in her position is baaasically a slippery slope. The only way out of it (to her mind) is Shirou capitulating.

Which...he wouldn't. This _is_ after all Shirou Emiya, there is almost nothing in the guy _except _determination. He's the guy that got completely covered in all the evil humanity is capable of, and thanks to sheer pigheaded stubbornness, got out of it without it affecting him in any way shape or form beyond some minor second degree burns.

He could fight back. But then he'd never again get access to her Semblance, which he values more than the lack of pain. We _are_ talking about the guy that willingly would shove a red-hot poker up his back every night for years on end with 0 progress and _kept doing it knowing he would have basically 0 progress._

Shirou's got this horrifying tendency to put up with stuff he _really_ shouldn't.

Yeeaah not a good position to be in. Seriously these two have issues.

On the bright side. Raven is slowly learning how to mom.

Slowly.

Very slowly.

And painfully.

...

Yeeeeeeaaah. ._.

=][=

"Rawr!" Yang said as she took two overly-lumbering steps and swung a telegraphed swipe at Ruby who giggled madly as she dodged then retaliated with a clumsy swipe of her plastic sword. Yang let it hit her on the shoulder and fell to the floor with an overacted squeal of 'anger' and wriggled in 'pain.'

Still giggling madly, Ruby jumped on top of her and whapped herself on the forehead with her own sword but barely noticed the fact as she thoroughly failed to grapple her older sister. Yang tumbled the two of them around on the dirt for a little while before she let herself be 'pinned' and 'stabbed' and so wriggled in 'agony' as she fell 'dead' with a, "Bleeeeeeeh!"

"Ruby the Huntress stands in victory!" Ruby said past her giggles as she waved her arms through the air.

"So," Yang said with a smile from under her little sister. "When is it _my_ turn to be the Huntress?"

"Nope!" Ruby said and jumped off her. "Ruby the Huntress!"

Yang laughed and crawled to her feet.

"And one day I'll have my magic knife back!" Ruby continued.

"Are you sure you didn't just lose it?" Yang asked.

"No! I told you it disappeared!" her little sister whined, "Like the video!"

"Yeah yeah," Yang said with a stretch. "So what do you wanna play next?"

"Huntress!" Ruby said jumping up and down.

"Girls!" Dad called from inside the house, "lunch is almost ready! Go wash up!"

"Okay dad!" Yang yelled back and turned to Ruby. "Come on Rubes."

"Nope!" Ruby said and scampered toward the trees around the house.

"Ruby!" Yang said as she took off after her younger sister. "Ruby you come back right now!"

Ruby disappeared into the trees, a belated "Nope!" floated to Yang's ears a moment later.

"Ruby!" Yang growled as she followed her younger sister into the bushes. "Ruby Rose you get back here this instant!"

An animalistic growl sent a chill coursing up her spine. She yelled for her father and pumped her arms to run faster, tripping over roots and shrubs as she called for her little sister. This wasn't possible! Dad culled the grimm weekly! There shouldn't be any grimm so close to the house!

"Ruby!" she screamed as she crashed through a thorny bush and came to a stumbling halt.

An ursa had been skewered through, a cruel red spear driven into the ground through its skull. Its body was dissipating slowly. A boy jumped off its back and landed in front of her little sister, he was wearing black and grey armor, with a hooded red half-cape and open-front battle-skirt.

The Sword Hunter had come back.

"Mr. Hunter!" Ruby said, tackle-hugging him.

Yang choked.

The Sword Hunter awkwardly patted Ruby's head, then flicked her lightly on the nose.

"Good girls don't run into the woods without their dad, and they listen to their sister. So you better apologize to her, okay?" he said in a neutral tone.

"Buuuut!" Ruby whined.

"No buts." he said.

"Hey!" Yang said, running toward them.

He took one look at her, gave Ruby's head one final rub and then whirled around and disappeared into the trees.

"Wait!" Yang called out uselessly and came to a halting stop next to Ruby. "Dang it!"

"I'm sorry Yang," Ruby said as she dug the tip of one of her shoes into the dirt.

"I just!" Yang sighed and hugged Ruby. "What would dad and I do if you'd gotten hurt? You can't just run off into the woods Ruby, it's not safe."

"M' sorry." Ruby said with a sniffle, and Yang had to harden her heart against her sister's weapon-grade cuteness.

"Then promise me you won't do it again." She said sternly.

"Promise," Ruby said with a sniffle.

There was a soft thud, the two of them looked down to find a small wood knife sticking out of the ground beneath them.

"Magic knife!" Ruby squealed and jumped on the toy.

The very next moment their dad crashed completely through a tree and swept the two of them up into his arms.

"How many times have I told you not to go into the woods without me!?" he screamed, throwing himself back from the nearly fully dissolved grimm. "You _know_ it's dangerous!"

"M' sorry," Ruby said, clutching the toy knife harder. "But Mr. Sword Hunter was here! So it was fine!"

Yang felt dad's arm curl tighter around her, almost to the point of being painful. "It's not fine!"

As dad began to scold the two of them, Yang wondered what the Sword Hunter wanted with Ruby and her. Why had he come save them again?

Maybe she could convince him to play with them? At least then Yang would get a turn at being the Huntress rather than be stuck playing the grimm all the time.

=][=

Raven had to suppress a smile as she remembered Yang tumbling about in the dirt, that had just been such an adorable sight! Maybe she should start carrying a scroll? It would have been nice to record…

She shook her head firmly. No, that's dumb and a bad idea. Raven was somewhat mad that Yang had needed to be saved again, but since Shirou had been the one to do the saving Raven still had her one save in stock. She should reward him somehow.

Thinking about Shirou soured her good mood. Almost as if thinking about him had alerted him, he moaned and she turned to look at him.

Her bundle of stupid was having that nightmare again.

Raven shook her head with a rueful sigh. Taking him to a raid had been disastrous. As she'd suspected, his intervention had caused cooperation among several villages to try and find the 'Sword Hunter.'

Not only had the Branwen tribe needed to move on the double and forced to lay low rather than scout a new potential target, she knew of at least two other bandit tribes that had been attacked and all but destroyed by the combined militia of several towns and numerous Huntsmen teams that had joined the search.

While those delightful things were happening, Shirou had taken a _long_ time to recover from the beating she gave him, his Aura refusing to heal him at all. He'd basically been crippled for a couple of weeks as he recovered, a couple weeks where food in the camp had been…subpar.

A couple months had passed since those rueful days, the search for the 'Sword Hunter' seemed to have calmed down, and things with Shirou had been…troublesome, though strangely enough not in the way she had expected.

He had not become at all more unruly, if anything he'd tried harder to please. Her morning and evening meals became more elaborate and richer. Her equipment and clothes were maintained to such a level that they looked and even _felt_ like new. He'd even done some really elaborate things with her hair a few times, though she wasn't entirely sure those were not accidents.

It had taken him a month to recover enough to go about his usual routine. She had let him think he had the run of the place and tailed him, and had been surprised when he simply went about his usual routine and returned to the camp on his own. She'd stopped bothering to tail him after a couple of weeks.

No, the problem came from the fact that he didn't seem to trust her as much. Shirou was more alert around her than he used to be, more observant, less relaxed. Raven wasn't entirely sure why but that irritated her.

Then of course…there were the nightmares. Something he'd seen in the raid seemed to have awoken repressed memories of the trauma that made him an amnesiac. Before, he had slept like the dead without moving around at all, now he tossed and turned bathed in sweat as he panted, some of the things he muttered were enough to chill her blood.

Whenever he woke up he claimed not to remember the dream, but judging by the fact that he wasn't sleeping nearly enough that was a boldfaced lie.

Shirou tossed and muttered something about a black sun over a hand made of shadow, then sobbed and begged for someone to save him.

Raven collapsed the scroll she was working on, there was just no way she could concentrate with the bundle of stupid muttering unceasingly. She turned to look at him, he was pale and covered in sweat, perhaps even fevered. She walked over to the cushion he was sleeping on and put a hand on his forehead, he moaned but settled a little.

Damn kids.

Well physical contact seemed to help. Not a lot but it did.

She ran a quick search on the scroll she used for administrative duties, the CCTNet should be able to help. Her search returns on 'How to deal with a dumb kid having really bad nightmares' gave back quite a few hits, most of them about therapy.

Well she wasn't about to take him to a shrink, any shrink worth their salt would take him away and then she'd never get her assassin. She looked down at his face, scrunched up in pain as it was.

She hadn't worked up the nerve to ask him about that artefact sword yet. She was too worried that if she pushed him too far he'd bolt. And quite unlike most probably-nineish year olds, this one could take care of himself for the most part. And since she didn't push it immediately, it became easier to ignore it than to bring the matter to a head.

She'd been quite lucky that the idiot in town had been recording, not streaming. There were rumors in the CCTNet that the Sword Hunter had multiple Semblances, was seven feet taller than he actually was, that he was the Chosen of the Brother of Light, and of all things that he was an alien. So one more voice screaming that he could command the weather but without any substantial proof, had been for the most part ignored.

Shirou gave a particularly pathetic mewl and she returned to scrolling through a few more search results. Eventually she found one that made her eyebrows rise, but it was better than taking him to a shrink, and it was free.

She promptly picked him up, moved him to her bed and lay down next to him. Then, double checking the admittedly simple instructions, pressed his head to her breast with one hand and patted his back with the other.

"Uhh…there there…I guess." she said awkwardly.

Much to her chagrin, it even seemed to work. He didn't exactly settle down, but his breathing eased a little as he clutched her like a lifeline and pulled himself closer to her. He spent some time trembling but eventually settled down snuggling against her.

Damn kids.

=][=

Shirou came awake slowly and realized he felt significantly less exhausted than he'd gotten used to. His head was also pressed against something soft and warm and he snuggled a little more tightly against it.

Strangely enough though, the pillow he was snuggling was only soft where he pressed his head, the rest of his body pressed against something warm and quite firm.

His brain finished engaging, and he came to the startling realization he didn't exactly own a body-length pillow, sleeping as he often did on cushions on the floor of Raven's tent, he wasn't entirely certain he even _owned_ a pillow. He opened his eyes and leaned back, and saw he was snuggled against Raven as she slept fully clothed, and she was holding him quite close. Judging by the light and birdsong coming in the tent flap he had slept very late.

Which meant breakfast would be very late. Which meant Raven would be mad at him, which meant more time without personal access to her Semblance. So he figured he should be getting up and trying to hunt something, he'd have to put off training until the evening when he usually trained his…he was fairly certain Semblance was the wrong word…

Shirou mentally shook himself, he had to make breakfast. He tried to draw away from Raven, but the slight movement caused her to frown in her sleep and curl around him, and while the warmth was welcome, it also complicated his escape quite badly.

As he contemplated how to get away without waking Raven up, the matter was taken from his control as her brows furrowed down and her eyes opened. Her red eyes immediately found his.

She blinked, twice.

Shirou opened his mouth to say something, but found he had no idea what to say, so he closed it. The two proceeded to stare at each other in an increasingly awkward silence.

"Did umm…did you sleep well?" Raven asked awkwardly.

Shirou opened his mouth, then closed it and nodded.

"Good…I guess." she said.

The two fell into another lengthy silence. A silence Shirou broke when he couldn't take it anymore.

"Raven? How did umm…how did I end up in your bed?" he asked tentatively.

"Ah…" she said sheepishly. "You uhh, you were having that nightmare again. So I did a search on the CCT to see about methods of how to help with that. This one seemed easy enough, and it uhh…it seemed to work.

"But when I tried to leave, you'd start tossing again so I uhh, eventually fell asleep."

Shirou grunted. "I see…thanks."

"Yeah, I ahh…don't mention it."

The two fell quiet again. Until Shirou once more couldn't take the silence. He cast about for a topic to talk about, and realized he had nothing other than cooking, hunting, swords and other assorted weapons, and killing grimm. The raid a few months back seemed like a dangerous topic as he wasn't sure if she was still angry about that.

He silently pulled back from Raven, and after a moment she released him. He crawled off the bed and made his way out, but stopped at the threshold.

"Thanks for looking out for me, Raven. Even though…I appreciate it, a lot." he muttered, his face felt hot to his ears.

"I umm…yeah kid, don't worry about it." she said slowly.

He fled then, there was no other word for it as he poured his Aura into his body and dashed to the cooking area. He put together as good a breakfast as he could, and since he was in a hurry he used his Aura on Raven's portion liberally and rushed to deliver it to her.

He returned to find Raven in conversation with Vernal. They cut off and scowled at the interruption the moment he walked into the tent. Raven's scowl eased when she saw it was him who walked in, Vernal's deepened.

"Breakfast," he said simply, holding the tray out to Raven as an offering.

She smirked, took the tray with one hand, and tossed his head gently about with the other. "Thanks Shirou, I figured I'd need to leave on an empty stomach."

He blinked, twice. "Where are you going?"

"Business trip," she said past a mouthful of food.

"We need to make sure the villages around us have calmed down from your antics," Vernal scolded him.

He stared up into her eyes, she scowled and stared back. Her angry blue eyes locked on his apathetic amber orbs. She was the first to blink, causing her to scowl harder.

"I'm happy as always to see the two of you getting along," Raven said amusedly, setting down the empty tray and letting out a soft burp into her hand. "Shirou, Vernal will be looking after you while I'm gone, so make sure to do anything she tells you."

"Okay," Shirou said.

"I _mean_ it Shirou," Raven said and jabbed a finger at his ribs. "I don't want to come back and hear you were disobedient."

"Okay," Shirou said.

"And don't waste time hunting grimm, or _murdering_ grimm as you said last time."

Shirou stared at Raven's blood-red eyes for a short moment before blinking and looking away. "Okay."

Raven took hold of his head and tossed it gently about again. "No need to sulk. I'll be back before you know it."

"M' not sulking," Shirou muttered sulkily.

Raven turned to Vernal, "Alright you know what to do in case Qrow shows up, I'll be back in a few days."

"Yes Raven," Vernal said as Raven stepped out of the back of her tent. She let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

"Alright brat," she growled, "you seem to have a misconception about your place in the food chain, so it's about time that…I…"

She cast about, looking for her charge, she had been looking forward to running him ragged for a few days. But he was not in the tent.

He was not in the kitchen area. A subsequent search showed he wasn't in the camp.

"Shirou!" she screamed into the forest. "Shirou you shit-stain you get back here this instant!"

But of course, running as he was with his fingers plugging his ears, he didn't hear her, and therefore he technically did not disobey Raven.

After all, he couldn't be blamed for not doing what Vernal told him if he hadn't heard her tell him to do anything.

He couldn't hunt or murder grimm, but Raven hadn't said not to _exterminate_ grimm, so that's what he did. He didn't particularly stalk any grimm, but he did make sure to make as much noise as possible in the hopes of drawing them to him.

Over the next couple of days he slept in a hollow tree he found and survived off the fat of the land and a rabbit or two, he trained in the mornings and in the evenings he used his inner world to create different weapons.

And in between that he killed grimm, ranging farther and farther out from his tree as they became more difficult to find.

That is not to say that there weren't some issues. There wasn't a night that he did not wake up covered in sweat, the stink of burnt flesh and vile smoke filling his nose and throat, the screams of the dead demanding he die with them ringing in his ears, the black sun stealing the light and seeming to try and swallow his very soul. The dream and the pain of the burns always faded away quickly once he awoke, but it always came back, vivid and just as painful as the night before.

It was on his third day in the middle of his post-workout grimm extermination that he heard screaming.

Filling the gaps in his body with (not)Aura he sprinted through the forest in the direction of the source of the noise until he broke through the trees and beheld a road. There, he saw a small group of people huddling inside a truck, the vehicle was being swarmed by a pack of Beowulves.

Shirou felt several gunshots go off in his head, his Aura filled him with painful energy, he lifted his arms and pointed them at the grimm, dim green lines glowing down his limbs.

"Trace bullet," he muttered, the words serving to hone his mind, emptying him of thought and emotion, a dozen swords materialized above him with a blue flash, their edges glinting dangerously in the sunshine that made it through the forest canopy. "Targeted shots, halt barrage upon target expiration. Fire!"

The dozen swords pointed themselves at the grimm, one for each member of the pack. Then with a single monstrous roar, they shot themselves at the grimm, skewering them through the head. Three of the Beowulves where stabbed into the body of the truck, where they started dissipating.

There was a short chorus of screams from within the vehicle that quickly petered out.

As Shirou made his way to the driver's window he spotted what looked to be some car keys, he picked them up and created a long sword and holding it by the blade, used the guard to gently tap the driver's window.

He repeated the motion when the driver didn't roll down the window.

After his fourth tapping, the widow rolled down and a man with laugh lines around his eyes peeked out.

"Y-Yes?" he asked tentatively, his wide fearful eyes on his diminutive savior.

Shirou wordlessly held up the keys until the man took them, after he did, he pointed in the direction of the tribe's camp. "Don't go that way, it's dangerous."

He then whirled around and threw himself into the trees, ignoring the man's shouted, "Hey wait!"

It felt…good…to help people. He needed to do that more, hopefully without making Raven mad.

He ran for a while, exterminating grimm as he went. Until he ran into a type of grimm he hadn't seen before. They were tall and skinny, skeletal and sickly looking. Their bony protrusions taking the form of an outside ribcage, their waist contracting around their spine before flaring back out around their hips. Their arms were grotesquely oversized for their bodies and tipped with razor sharp claws.

There were two or three dozen of them. They saw him and began to shuffle forward, and gave off a deafening screech that hurt the ears to listen to.

Shirou began to prepare a blade storm, but their shrieking cut his concentration apart, the sound bypassing any defense he could muster and stabbing viciously into his head.

He looked within himself for a weapon to use, and called forth one he found a few days back during his training. With a small effort of will and an expenditure of energy, he was holding a massive black sword whose bloodthirst was physically palpable.

He wasn't sure if grimm blood could satiate it but Hrunting would seek it regardless.

Shirou dashed forward, strengthening his limbs to move at a much greater speed than he'd otherwise be capable of, and took a wild uncontrolled swing with the sword that unbalanced him almost to the point of toppling over, he felt the weapon wrench in his grip mid-swing so its edge could hungrily bite through the grimm's neck and cleave its head from its emaciated shoulders.

The second fell as a diagonal cut removed the upper third of its body, the third fourth and fifth died as Hunting bifurcated them, the sixth lost its legs at the knees before a stumbling return swing removed its head from its shoulders, the seventh was stabbed through the heart, the eighth and ninth were cut into two at the waist before being put out of their misery.

And all through that time the rest of them screeched their displeasure.

Shirou paused as he killed the tenth. Why was he bothering killing grimm? He no longer got that feeling of premonition, of being _just about_ to recall something. It's not like he _enjoyed_ killing grimm, they were just a way to keep his skills sharp.

The green-eyed girl and the purple mister would certainly be disappointed if he didn't keep his skills sharp.

With that thought to galvanize him, he dashed forward once more into the thick of the skeletal grimm, cycling his Aura through his circuits until he felt them burning painfully.

As the twentieth grimm died, he couldn't help but wonder why he was even trying to please the purple mister, he had said he would interfere no more, so he had abandoned Shirou just like he felt Raven was about to that day that she hurt him over and over.

Raven, why was he even trying to please her? She was so stingy with her Semblance; would it be faster to look for the green-eyed girl without Raven's help?

Why even bother to look for th-

Shirou shook his head, ridding himself of the treasonous thought before it could be completed. And once more threw himself at the emaciated, howling grimm.

When nine remained he wondered why he was trying so hard to push forward, it would be easier to stop and rest, if only for a little while.

When six remained he wondered why he was fighting so hard, the purple mister abandoned him, Raven barely cared about him, Vernal outright hated him.

When three remained he had to wonder why he was even swinging the weapon, it did not find grimn blood at all satisfying.

When two remained he wondered why he even tried. He had nothing, he was no one. The voices in his sleep were right, he had failed them and forgotten them, why shouldn't he lie down and die?

Shirou stood over the dissipating corpse of the grimm, their blood evaporating swiftly from his clothing and armor. Hrunting fell to the earth with a thud, he followed it soon after as he plopped himself down with his back to a tree, taking deep cleansing breaths.

A three-fingered claw settled on his left leg, it belonged to a creature smaller than all the other grimm, barely a head teller than Shirou himself, even so its fingers were long enough to wrap several times around his calf. Slowly, it dragged him from the base of the tree until the grimm could sink its other claw into his chest armor and begin to try to tear it off.

Maybe, after it killed him, maybe then the voices of those he'd failed would finally be satisfied. Either way, Shirou found himself too tired to care.


	9. Chapter 8

'Nother Saturday 'Nother update.

For those of us that are of a United Statesican persuasion. Hope you had a happy commemorative avian sacrifice day.

I did a whole buncha nothing. Like, damn son. I'm surprised by how much I needed that.

That said, I need to get the batteries going again. Cause I'm catching up to what I have pre-written. And it'd be bad if I don't get more done cause otherwise I might not make the weekly updates. Work has just been, ugh.

Thing of note from the reviews of last chapter! Yes, I had Shirou fall to thirty Apathy. This is one where everyone and anyone is free to disagree with me cause Crossover Mechanics can get a bit iffy.

See the guy is nothing if not determined, but it is also canon that he is quite weak to mind Fethery. So the question becomes: 'Is the Apathy's ability mind Fethery?' My own interpretation is that, yes, it is. So Shirou would be weak to it.

He is weak to the power. But has such an inane reserve of willpower that it takes thirty of them screaming at him continuously while he kills them one at a time, specifically targeting the very thing needed to fight them off in order to make him fold, and even then I don't see him falling without a fight because Noble Phantasms are a bitch like that. Hence why it was only the thirty-_first_ that was able to get any good out of the situation.

Some people in PMs told me 'well it should have been more, like forty or fifty or seventy' but, guys, Shirou is not a Space Marine Librarian. He's a crazy magus...Maybe Shirou from Mind of Steel might be able to just take the Apathy's screech without even flinching or being affected...that actually makes for an interesting thought experiment.

Anyways coming back from the tangent. Shirou is still, you know, human. And we saw in the show that two or three of the Apathy's screams are enough to make a person lay down and wait to die, even _after_ they've snapped out of the suicidal gloom being around a group Apathy puts them in. And I had a youngified Shirou tank their screams, continuously, while he killed them one at a time. And the latter because I figured that a psychic screech that makes you lay down and die would be highly detrimental to concentration, in particular when you are weak to the attack itself even _if_ your reserves of willpower are literally insane.

Such is my interpretation of it anyways. So anyone and everyone is free to disagree with me on it, but hey, I'm writing this so I can only write what I think would happen.

Anyways fair warning. Bit of an Author's Note at the bottom. So I apologize in advance. I'd discuss it here but it'd be a spoiler for the story itself so I won't.

Also kudos to cesar918 for betaing.

°[°={Strategic Snippet Bomb!}

=][=

Raven clutched her aching stomach doubled over as she laughed. The nerve of the kid!

"It's not funny!" Vernal said, her face red from her neckline to the tips of her ears.

"You're right!" Raven wheezed as she wiped away a tear, "It's hilarious!"

"Raven!" Vernal whined and stomped a foot on the tent floor. That was the first time in a while Vernal did that, to think Shirou would be able to draw out the best in her adjutant.

"I mean, come on!" Raven said, her cheeks hurting from smiling too much. "I bet he ran off with his fingers in his ears! He can't have been disobedient if he didn't hear you!"

"He hasn't been back for days!" Vernal whined. "The tribe almost lynched me when they thought I'd run him off!"

That tidbit of information made Raven laugh all the harder. She'd have to punish her bundle of stupid for going against the spirit of her command if not _technically_ the letter, but still, "I mean, come on Vernal. To think you lost him _in seconds_, probably before I even left the camp!"

"You're the only one he listens to!" her adjutant hissed. "Why do we even keep him around anyways!? All he does is kill Grimm! And you saw how hurt he got in the _one_ raid he went to!"

That comment soured Raven's mood, she had not been forthcoming with the reason for her tardiness or Shirou's injuries. The tribe had decided that 'her pet' had tried to impress her by joining the raid, and it had backfired monumentally.

"Do you _seriously _think you can replace him as the camp cook?" Raven asked with forced levity.

Vernal's eyes shifted to the side in shame and anger. When she answered, her response was the whisper of a mouse. "No."

"Well, he'll probably come back on his own," Raven said as she stood and stretched. "but I don't feel like eating the trash the second-best cook makes."

Vernal grumbled.

"Cheer up Vernal," Raven said with a smirk. "I _am_ going to have to at least slap him over the head for running off."

Vernal scoffed, "Yeah whatever."

Raven drew a blade with Omen and sliced the air in front of her saying. "Be right back."

She stepped through the portal and saw she was somewhere in a forest. "Alright Shirou you've run around long…"

She was in the middle of seven dissipating skeletally thin grim. Looking around, she saw a small Apathy hunched over something in the middle of a small pool of blood.

She was upon it in an instant, Omen roared with the heat of a furnace as a red Dust blade was unleashed from its sheathe. She ran her Aura through the blade, its edge glowing red hot as it cut through the Apathy's neck and lodged in its spine, the Grimm's meat sizzled and hissed as it cooked.

It slowly turned its head to glare at her, gurgling as it tried to scream through the blade lodged in its throat. Raven took a step forward, pivoted on her heel, swung her back and hips, and with a roar pushed the blazing Dust blade fully trough the Grimm's neck. Grimm flesh and blood flashed into foul-smelling vapor as her return swing got stuck in the bones of its arms. She pushed more of her aura into the blade until it glowed white-hot, a blinding blue flame wailed into being around the blade as she poured her Aura into and through it. The Grimm's bones flashed into vapor, allowing her to kick the body away.

She discarded the used-up stub of the red Dust blade and returned Omen to its sheath, the thumb-length stub hissed and popped as it set fire to the grass around it and caused the ground to hiss and smoke.

She knelt next to the little bleeding body. Shirou lay in a slowly expanding pool of his own blood, his armor and clothing was torn to tatters, and his eyes had a vacant cast to them she had seen too many times in her service to Ozpin.

"Raven?" he whispered. "You're back?"

"Shirou! What happened!?" she demanded and slowly lifted him up from the ground, immediately staining her dress with blood.

"'M sorry I won't apologize," he muttered as his hand clutched feebly at her dress, "Please don't hate me anymore. I need…I need your Semblance, I need to find her…"

"Brother's sake be quiet and stay awake!" she snapped and tore open a portal back to Vernal.

"Vernal!" she screamed the moment she stepped through the portal, "Grab Flaxen! Tell him there's someone wounded!"

Vernal was running out of her tent before she reached her favorite table and gently set Shirou down on top of it. She really should look to setting up a tent specifically for triage. She began to remove and at times peel the clothes and armor off the kid. He did not react even when removing the articles ripped off scabs.

The skin of his chest had been torn to strips, but the wounds themselves looked shallow.

"Raven," Shirou said drunkenly. "Raven 'm tired."

"Yeah well don't you dare fall asleep," Raven said distractedly. "Or I'll give you the beating of your life."

Vernal ran into the tent holding a bag with the tribe's medical supplies, on her heels arrived a scruffy one-eyed balding man with what black hair he had forming an admirable attempt at a mullet, she saw from the corner of her eye that a crowd of idiots had formed by her tent flap.

"Don't you fools have things to do!?" she snarled. "Clear the hells out!"

The crowd melted as she turned back to the kid, looking closely she could see dirt and other particulates in the cuts. Flaxen rolled up the sleeves on his shirt and turned to her adjutant, "Vernal, bring me sum' clean water, quickly."

Vernal rushed out as Shirou moaned and complained that he was tired and wanted to sleep. Raven flicked his forehead to wake him up, Flaxen dug through the medical supplies and pulled out a thread and needle and improvised an antiseptic bath to disinfect the tools and his hands.

"We _really _should set up a tent fo' this ya kno?" he said, his voice was a breathy hiss.

"Not in the mood Flaxen!" Raven growled.

Vernal returned with several plastic bottles and Flaxen wasted no time in washing the wounds clean. The red-tinted water quickly fell to her rug and ruined it.

Too bad, she had been rather fond of that rug.

"A'right," Flaxen said and pulled out a hip flask, he took a deep swig of it before putting it to the kid's lips. "Down the hatch."

Shirou sputtered and coughed, spilling most of it back out, but some of it went down his throat.

"Someone's gonna have to hold 'im down." Flaxen said with a sniff before taking another swig of the hip flask and capping it. Raven nodded and enlisted the help of two of the burlier members of the tribe to hold him down, Vernal shoved a leather belt between Shirou's teeth and nodded.

Flaxen shook his head. "Raven, change places whi' Vernal. Vernal, get over 'ere."

Raven and Vernal switched places. "Yer a un-i'versal doner lass. Gonna need ta give 'im some blood." Flaxen wheezed as he pulled out needles and a tube, and quickly set up a blood transfusion from Vernal to the kid. Once that was done he instructed one of the men to hold that arm still no matter what, then took a deep breath, and began by sterilizing Shirou's cuts.

The kid thrashed hard enough to almost knock the two grown men off their feet, were it not for the belt acting as a gag his screams would have been deafening.

The best that could be said about the procedure was that at least it was over quickly, in particular when the kid's adrenaline ran out and he was too tired to continue thrashing.

He surprised her yet again by not falling unconscious through everything. At the end of it he was semi-conscious and heavily bandaged, would it be safe for him to pass out? How much longer should she keep him awake?

"'E should be fine." Flaxen said gruffly, unintentionally answering at least a few of her questions for her as he removed the needles from Shirou and Vernal. He took another swig of his hip flask, "'Es a fighter this one. Get some food in 'im and then let the lad sleep. 'E should be good in a bit, I'll be back later to clean th' stitches."

Raven nodded as Flaxen swayed out of her tent, muttering about kids wasting good hootch. Bloody drunk.

She looked down at her bloody bundle of stupid. "Shirou? How're you doing down there?"

His hand snatched hold of her dress and he muttered in a slurred voice. "M' tired."

Raven dismissed the men as Vernal inspected her nearly-bitten-through leather belt with a grimace and a muttered, "I _liked_ this belt."

"What happened out there Shirou?" she asked as he coughed and rasped, Raven signaled Vernal to bring water.

"Grimm," he rasped out. "big and thin, made me tired…Too tired to fight."

Raven winced, no wonder he was hurt so badly, attacking eight Apathy? Huntsmen teams had been wiped out taking on lesser prey. She took a bottle of water from Vernal and carefully fed it to the kid a little at a time.

"Charged them…with a sword," he said after she gave him a few sips of water and Raven winced again. "But…I missed one…"

But…every Huntsman and Huntress would know that you need to engage those…at…

Shirou did not have any actual training as a Huntsman. He was just powerful. Even if he had received any in the past he was an amnesiac.

By every god ever she could be so incredibly stupid sometimes.

She caressed his forehead gently, "You did good kid, you did good. It was really ballsy of you to kill _those_ in melee, look just try to stay awake a bit longer okay? We just need to get some food in you and you can sleep."

"M' not hungry," he muttered sullenly.

"Yeah well you're eating something, that's an order." she said gently.

He half-heartedly grumbled as Raven instructed Vernal to bring some kind of broth. She had to work hard to keep the idiot kid awake long enough for him to get some watery broth in him. She had to all but force a bowl down his throat, but he ate.

As soon as she stopped keeping him awake, he was out like a light, she lay him down on her bed and set about cleaning her tent of the improvised surgical…everything. Damn kid, charging a pack of _those_ like an idiot. He should have done that blade storm thing he was so fond of.

Well, at least he was asleep so she'd finally be able to get some work done. Even so, she couldn't help but feel she was forgetting something…

He moaned and muttered about a mother holding out the burning corpse of an infant. He was having that nightmare again, and if he thrashed around too much he'd pop his stitches.

Shit.

With a put upon sigh, she lay down next to him and hugged him as tightly as she dared.

"Shush now," she said sternly, "You don't want to pop your stitches."

"I'm sorry," he sobbed. "I _had_ to leave you."

Those words in particular stabbed deeply into Raven's heart, she pressed his head a little more tightly to her breast as he wept in his sleep and clutched her like a lifeline.

"Shush," she said a little more gently. "Shush, that's all in the past now. Shush."

Much like the night she left, he eventually settled down. But chances were that if she stood up he'd start thrashing around again…

Well, Vernal _did_ mention she couldn't wait to get her hands on the kid…

=][=

Shirou woke slowly, he felt as if he had to claw his way to consciousness. Pushing through brambles and cotton as he came awake.

He felt his head pressing against something soft and warm, but the rest of him was pressed against something warm and quite firm. It was a strangely familiar sensation.

He groggily opened his eyes and beheld rather pretty and tanned skin, its color contrasted well by a black choker necklace.

He blinked, twice.

Raven wore necklaces, but not a choker. He felt he recognized that choker however, he'd definitely seen it before. It was so difficult to think, each thought had to be individually pushed through a pit of tar in his brain.

He tried to lean back but stopped well short and hissed as the skin of his chest felt like it was pulled taut, lines of fire burning across his body. He bit down on the scream that almost exploded out of him, a sound halfway between a moan and a mewl pushed its way past his throat.

Immediately he felt a warm hand on the back of his head press his head gently against the breast of whoever held him, he felt another hand rub soft, slow circles on his lower back.

"Shhhh, you're okay, the fire can't hurt you. You're fine. Shhhh." said Vernal's voice in a much more gentle tone than any she'd ever directed at him. "They are dead and gone, they can't hurt you and you can't help them. Just let it be, shhh."

Well, this was…comforting and strangely disconcerting. His eyelids drooped, he should probably let her know he was awake. He couldn't continue to bother her like this.

"How is he?" said Raven's voice behind him, he felt the bed he was on shift as a weight settled on it.

"Still out," Vernal said her hand not pausing as she spoke. "He seemed to wake up a few hours ago but I think he was delirious, got him to drink a little water though...He doesn't seem to be running a fever anymore at least."

"Finally…It's so strange, I've never seen someone's Aura not heal them." Raven muttered.

"Yeah, I tried unlocking his Aura a little while ago." Vernal said.

"How'd that work out?"

He felt Vernal shift, "I'm not sure, there_ was _a glow for a moment, but then there was a flash and something sliced into my palm. Almost got blood on the sheets."

"What the hells…" Raven muttered before continuing in a slightly louder whisper. "How're you doing? Need a break?"

"Honestly? Yes, I need to stretch my legs." Vernal said with some slight strain in her voice. "But he twitched rather violently a bit ago, I'm afraid he might be having the nightmare again and not showing it."

Raven grunted. "Okay, keep an eye on him for a few minutes, if he remains settled down we'll switch."

Shirou felt himself start to drift off, feeling safe and warm was making exhaustion crash on him like a ton of bricks.

He had to thank them for taking care of him, and tell them to stop, he had to let them know he could take care of himself, but all he managed was a sleepy mumble as he drifted back to sleep.

=][=

It took Shirou a torturous ten days to heal enough for Flaxen to remove the stitches. Raven had to wonder exactly how Shirou's power worked, what method had been used to unlock his Aura that seemingly traded off healing for sheer offensive capability.

Had she picked up one of _her_ pet projects somehow? Could he be the end result of some selective breeding program? Did she dare keep him? Would it be safer to be rid of him?

Well yes in fact in almost every scenario she could think of, it would be better to be rid of the kid. Except the one where someone else picks him up and uses him against her. Not to mention she'd gone through the trouble of keeping him alive and she'd frankly prefer to see a return on investment.

No, she would not miss the brat thank you very much.

Raven forced herself to focus on the present as Flaxen removed the last of Shirou's stitches.

"Ya kno', yer maybes the least squirmy shite I've ever had to get stitches outta." Flaxen said and took a swig of his hip flask.

Shirou blinked twice at him but said nothing as he scowled at the 'doctor.'

Then again maybe he was just looking? The kid's face was all but made for scowling, he should look into fixing that, he'd never get a girl to like him if he kept that up.

"Well, yer Aura may not be worth a shite but ye heal kinda fast. So ye got that goin for ye, which is nice." he took another swig of his hip flask. "I don't wanna see ye again for a few months, so whatever ye did ta get shanked? Don't."

With that he stuck his hip flask between Shirou's lips and upended it until the kid was sputtering.

"Don't give the kid alcohol poisoning you idiot." Raven said as she forced the flask away from her bundle of stupid.

Flaxen gave her a breathy wheeze and capped the flask as he walked away. "Haven't ye heard? Dis shite's medicine-anal."

"It's pronounced _medicinal_ you quack!" She called out after him and turned to look at Shirou as he stopped coughing. "So, how are you feeling kid?"

"Fine," he said, slipping on a shirt. The shirt was actually somewhat short on him, she'd have to take him shopping for new clothes soon.

Maybe she could put Vernal on that, she deserved a chance to redeem herself in the fine art of Shirou wrangling.

Speaking of, Raven plucked him off the ground by the back of his shirt as he made to leave.

"And where do you think you're going?" she asked as she plopped him gently down in front of her and put her hands on her hips.

"Hunting," he said, and made to go around her.

Raven swept his legs out from under him causing him to fall and smack the back of his head against the floor, she then straddled his hips knocking the air out of him, and locked his arms to his sides as she tucked her legs in, all of which happened in under two seconds. Her Aura covered her with a red shimmer as she pressed down on Shirou's chest with her left hand to push him back to the floor as he struggled.

"Shirou," she said in a calm, even, and very reasonable tone. "If you think you're going to get to do whatever you want, after you betrayed my trust _that badly_, then you are sorely mistaken."

"Raven, I didn-" he was cut off as she put a finger over his lips, his scowl deepening.

"I _trusted_ you to follow orders," she said calmly. "I _trusted_ you to be responsible. I _trusted_ you to take care of yourself. You ran off when I told you that Vernal would take care of you, you did not obey her as I ordered you to, and you got mauled almost to death by a bunch of Grimm, which tells me you went off to hunt Grimm after I explicitly ordered you not to."

"But," he said past the finger she had over his lips. "I didn't hear Vernal say anything, and I didn't hunt Grimm, I exterminated them."

Raven felt her lips try to twitch up into a smile, totally called it. "Shirou, that logic is so thin even Flaxen would find issue with it."

"Hey!"

"You have proven to me that giving you that trust was a mistake. And both Vernal and I had to devote a large portion of every day to keeping you from shredding your stitches," she said over his protests. "Now, this is the time when I beat you to within an inch of your life so you learn from your errors."

Shirou's eyes widened and his face paled.

"But," she continued. "I am going to give you a chance to learn from what you just went through. And you have proven that physical punishment is not something that affects you, so!"

She transferred the finger over his lips to tap him lightly on the forehead.

"You no longer have the privilege to go hunting on your own." she stated.

"But Raven I-"

"You no longer get to go hunting Grimm on your own."

"W-Wait, Raven I-"

"You don't get to _leave_ this camp on your own."

"Raven that's not fair I-!"

She flicked him on the forehead. "And from now on, you have to treat _anything _Vernal tells you as if it came from _me_. Do you understand?"

"No! Raven I need t-!"

She flicked him on the forehead.

"Raven! It won't happen again I-!"

She flicked him on the forehead again.

"B-!"

She flicked him on the forehead a fourth time.

"I didn't even get to say anything that time!" he whined.

She bent down and loomed over him, glaring into his eyes. "Do. You. Understand?"

"I…I…Raven, that's-" he sputtered, meeting her eyes with difficulty.

She sighed and leaned back, she felt him take a relieved breath. She put a hand on his forehead, causing him to flinch, but all she did was brush his hair away from his eyes.

"I have stuck my neck out quite a bit for you Shirou." she said slowly. "You don't often get to just be allowed into the tribe. I brought you in because I see great things in your future, I'm not exaggerating when I say that I see you becoming a key member of the tribe. I am not going to let you piss that future away because you are too stubborn and cocksure to take proper care of yourself. You've used up your one save, but unlike most people it didn't seem like you learned anything from the experience. So until you prove you are responsible enough, you don't leave the camp on your own, you don't go hunting alone, you don't hunt Grimm alone, and you will actually start doing what Vernal tells you to do. Do. You. Understand?"

He remained quiet for a long time before asking in a fragile voice. "If I can't go out, how will I pay you back? If I can't pay you back I won't be able to search for the green-eyed girl."

Raven tilted her head a little to the side. "If you are a good boy and do as you are told, Vernal or I will help you look for the girl on the weekends. Okay?"

Shirou blinked, twice. "Really?"

She flicked him on the forehead.

"Stop that!" he said with a pout and watering eyes.

"Yes really." she sighed.

"You promise?" he asked, his voice was fragile but his eyes were almost fevered.

"Yes Shirou," she said with a nod. "I promise."

"Okay." he said with a resolute nod.

"Good," Raven said with a relieved sigh. She then smirked and flicked him on the forehead, hard. "_That_ is for going off and almost getting yourself killed, don't do it again."

She stood up, stretched, and sat at her favorite table that she had thankfully managed to remove the bloodstains from.

"Now get over here and brush my hair," she said tersely. "You've been slacking off."

Within moments she felt her hair being brushed, and her shoulders relaxed from a small amount of tension she hadn't realized she had been holding. She took several moments to bask in the feeling of being spoiled before gathering her courage and speaking with a calm she did not feel.

"So Shirou, why don't you tell me about that weather-controlling sword of yours?" she held her breath as she waited for her gamble to backfire.

"Its name is Storm Ruler," he said quietly as he brushed her hair. She listened with growing fascination as he regaled her with the tale of the sword that slew a Wind God before being abandoned and forgotten at the top of a lonely cliff.

=][=

**You thought there was more story! But it was me! DIO!**

**Or, you know, the Bottom Author's Note you were warned about. Either one is fine really.**

**Man I had fun coming up with Flaxen.**

**And to those of you who predicted Raven saving Shirou from the Apathy? Kudos to you! NOW GET OUT OF MY HEAD!**

**Anyways, I'mma be level with you guys. I've got a storyboard. It's got stuff for up to this point. And stuff for later. But this here marks basically the end of what I have tentatively titled the 'childhood' arc. With Raven having taken several months and plenty of fuckups to get to the point in parenting where she realizes that a child really should not be left in charge of themselves. And that there is a _carrot_ as well as a stick. And showing that she's capable of learning and changing, if only a little at a time.**

**Also, I would have mentioned this on the earlier Author's Note but spoilers. Yes that is basically my own headcanon as to how Omen should work. Dust is Aura reactive, most people use it with their Semblances but I don't see why there couldn't be a more 'crude' use of it in combat with just Aura. Meaning that Omen should basically be _extremely_ versatile, and we know the Dust blades in Omen are not made of steel with dust infused, cause they shatter in a fight, meaning they're probably dust pressed or otherwise made into the form of a blade. Hence my interpretation of 'it gets used up, its speed of consumption depending on how much Aura she is pumping it full of.'**

**Moving on from weapons talk. I'mma preempt something and say it flat out cause I did not find a way to weave it organically into the story. Raven doesn't think Shirou has magic. She probably won't until he does something immensely bullshit and overt right in front of her. It doesn't help that the guy himself doesn't _remember_ he is doing magic.**

**Yes, Raven knows that magic exists in Remnant. But she also _knows_ that there are only six beings in the whole wide world that can use magic. And unfortunately Shirou is not a young woman, so he can't be one of three likely candidates, and she'd have heard if the fourth one died. So she figures his Semblance is some type of pocket dimension that lets him choose at what speed stuff comes out of the dimension at, and whoever unlocked his Aura did it in such a way that traded away healing for power.**

**If that sounds contrived, she can teleport to people she likes. Someone can hit you harder the harder you hit their sword. Some other dude has telepathy and another simply makes dust explode harder, and some other dude's Semblance is stealing a person's Semblance. Having some really weird Semblance is not unheard of. As to the way she felt her power respond to Shirou using Storm Ruler? She figured that was the Artefact he was using.**

**So in her mind. She's got a kid with a pocket dimension full of weapons and maybe an Artefact or two. And to top it off he knows how to use them. If you ask me she'd go 'Neat!' and not look too hard into it, because why look a gift horse in the mouth? She's got more important things to do than worry about research. She'd probably think of asking him to lend her those Artefacts, but later, when she's rebuilt some more of that trust she spent a few hours thoroughly shattering.**

**Now, as to how the story will move on from here.**

**As stated before, I'm not writing a novel here. Yes I could try and write several more chapters of 'Slice of Life in the Branwen Tribe! 8D' but that's not what I wanna do. So I'mma do an intermission chapter and in it there is going to be one big timeskip. Said intermission will show bits of changes and will leave it up to you guys to fill in the blanks while I go concentrate on the rest of the story I wanna write.**

**I debated with myself a lot on it, but I figured that that was the best way of doing it.**

**The intermission will catch everyone up on some wider-range changes that Shirou's presence and behavior is having on the world and its people. And it'll hopefully be entertaining in its own right. And after that...well I've got a storyboard and I'm sticking to it!**

**Anyways, hope you enjoyed. As always, if you liked it please drop me a review and let me know why.**

**If you didn't, do drop me a review and also let me know why. Though, srsly, there is no reason we can't be civil, yeh?**

**I do read all of them and answer as solid a chunk of them as I can. If I didn't answer yours, it don't mean I didn't read it, it means I'm busy taking care of life, putting together Warhammer and Warmachine minis, making a plan to build a giant slingshots to fire all of my enemies into the sun, figuring out how to put together an army of murderbots, oh, and working to pay my bills, because Adulting is hard.**

**But reading reviews is one of the things that keeps a guy writing. So plz plz drop me reviews brah. Pretty please, with a cherry on top, and sprinkles.**

**Anyways see ya next saturday.**

**Or earlier.**

**If you review.**


	10. Intermission

'Nother Saturday 'nother upload.

So, gonna level with you people. The last few weeks have been tough. Got sick and I'm finally starting to get out of that. Not to mention work is picking up and December is the _BUSIEST _time of year for my work field. As such we've basically got unlimited overtime, and I need all the money I can get. So I've been spending extra time at work and will continue to do so. Aside from this Halo finally made its way to PC, and Halo is one of the three games I grew up playing so I used my one and change hours of daily free time to take a shower, eat dinner, and play a lil' bit of Halo.

As such. I've finally caught up to everything I had pre-written. I'll try to get some writing done this weekend, but one never knows what might happen. As such, fair warning. There is the very real possibility I might not make the deadline for next saturday. I'll give it the good ol' college try, but them's the shakes. I've got most of the next chapter written anyways, but from now on I don't have two to three chapters in reserve anymore. Furthermore my last beta sorta bowed out.

Man, I'm having no luck with betas.

Anyways yer not here to read about my troubles.

Here is the intermission chapter. One of the longest, but I crammed it full of the stuff. As previously stated, I'm only showing glimpses and I'll be leaving you lot to work out what else happened in the background. I thought through it and I think it makes logical sense. I will, however preempt one thing in particular.

When you get to it, you will be all 'Dude, really?' and I wanna say only this.

**THAT'S RIGHT I WENT THERE! _AND I DID IT BECAUSE I COULD!_**

Trust me present you, it'll make sense to future you.

Unless it doesn't.

As usual, if you liked it drop me a review and tell me why. I'm not kidding, I prefer long reviews. So if you wanna go into exceeding detail about what you liked, go for it. I enjoy reading about my readers catching onto to tiny hints I put into what I write. It gives me this warm and fuzzy feeling.

If you didn't like it...uhh...we're like, thirty-something thousand words in, I woulda thought I lost you around chapter seven. But if you're actively disliking this and still sticking around, drop me a review and let me know why! 8D

Or don't. I'm not the boss of you.

Unless I am?

_Tuuu nuu nu...TU NU NU! TU NU NU! _

￣Д￣

=][=

Jaune Arc replayed the video of the latest sighting of the Sword Hunter. In it, he could be seen using a simple-looking sword to annihilate a pack of Beowulves that had set upon a group of Faunus.

The video was blurry and the image jumped about unsteadily, it almost made him feel sick but he forced himself to watch it regardless.

The Sword Hunter fighting in melee, it was the first time Jaune had seen him fight without that spear, or without raining swords down on the Grimm. He fought with a simple straight sword.

Not a multi-form weapon. A simple, classical sword. Not unlike his great-great-grandpa's sword.

He saw the Sword Hunter dispatch the last of the Grimm before rushing to the travelers. He ignored the questions put to him, looking at the faces of the people he'd saved before muttering something the scroll didn't pick up, and running off at an incredible speed.

If the Sword Hunter could be a hero like his great-great-grandpa, why couldn't Jaune? Jaune had his great-great grandpa's sword and shield. But he was sure that his seven sisters would absolutely tattle on him if they saw him training.

And Mom and Dad had told him they didn't have the money to send him to a combat school. Not one with a program likely to get him into Beacon anyway.

And they didn't want him to become a Huntsman. They had said time and again that they hoped for a peaceful, safe life for their family.

But the Sword Hunter was a kid, just like him. And the Sword Hunter never gave up, he persevered!

Jaune restarted the video, pulled out a notebook and pencil, and set about figuring out how to attend a combat school. Maybe he could do his sisters' chores for their allowance. Or even better, get a job doing…something.

He would be just like the Sword Hunter and make his great-great grandpa proud! And his great grandpa! And his grandpa too! He just needed to make sure to hide everything from his sist-

"Hey Jaune! Whatcha watching!?"

"NOTHING!" he squealed.

=][=

Lie Ren took a shuffling step forward as he patiently waited in line for his own turn. Lunch at the orphanage was always a tiring affair.

Still better than the couple of years he'd spent living on the streets, if only just.

Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Nora throwing a punch that sent a bigger and older boy sprawling to the ground. The boy's friends proceeded to run away as she made to run after them.

Ren sighed, he'd have to split his lunch with her again. He turned his head forward and saw the kid in front of him looking at a video, the screen of his scroll so cracked it was difficult to make out what was being played.

But he could see it well enough. Someone had made a compilation of Sword Hunter sightings. The clip in question showed him cleaving a Beringel's skull in two with a beautiful sword as blades rained down endlessly around him. Beowulves fell seemingly beneath the Sword Hunter's notice as he pulled the sword out of the dissipating Grimm, he turned and looked straight at Ren through the scroll's cracked screen.

Was that amusement in his seemingly golden eyes? Or was it Ren's imagination?

Ren felt his hands curling into fists.

_'Why not my town?' _he thought as he grit teeth. _'Why did you save those towns but not mine? It's not fair.'_

The line advanced, he took another shuffling step forward.

=][=

Raven wondered exactly how to deal with this particular issue. Shirou had never struck her as the clingy type, not when he was awake anyways.

So the fact that he barged into her tent, tackled her, and was currently clutching her dress in a white-knuckle grip and burying his face in her stomach while hyperventilating…had her at something of a disadvantage.

"Please," he said between pants, "please Raven."

"Kid, breathe why don't you," she sighed, "just calm the hells down and tell me what's up."

"I heard," he muttered into her stomach. "You're attacking a town. Please, please don't."

'_Ah,' _she thought. _'So that's it.'_

She plopped a hand down on top of his head. "Sorry kiddo. But the tribe needs resources, the best way for us to get them is by raiding a town."

She felt him begin to shudder. "Please Raven, I promised. The people in the fire, I promised them. I can't let it happen again, I _can't_."

Raven sighed and gripped his head a little more tightly.

"Look kid, the world is kill or be killed, eat or be eaten." She pulled him away, sank to one knee and took hold of his shoulders. "The strong rise to the top, the weak get trampled down. That's just how things are."

"But Raven I-!"

She put a hand over his mouth.

"The fire you keep dreaming about must have been some hell." she said with a sad smile. "But _you_ lived through it, do you know why?"

His eyes were almost fevered, boring into her own as he shook his head.

"You lived because you are strong, kid," she said, then pressed her hand a little more tightly against his mouth when he tried to protest. "You begged for someone to save you, and when they didn't you saved yourself. So what if you didn't stop to help someone else? You had no obligation to them.

"The promise you may or may not have made is not important. They are dead, they'll stay dead. There is nothing you can do to change that, and the dead do not require comfort." She took her hand away from his mouth and once more put it on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "You owe them _nothing_, you hear? You. Owe. Them. _Nothing."_

He scowled and looked down at the floor, his face was pale and he looked a little unsteady on his feet, his eyes lost focus as he brought a hand up to his temple. "That's…that's not…right?"

She shook him gently, bringing his focus back on her. "Of course it's right, those people, that fire, they are dead and gone. They were weak, you were strong. They died, you lived. That's the end of it."

She took hold of his head and tossed it about gently before standing up. "Now chin up, you'll be staying here this time. Vernal will look after you."

She made to leave but stopped when she felt him tug at her dress. His hand once more had a white-knuckle grip as he scowled at the floor.

"Maybe…maybe I can…get whatever the tribe needs? Then you wouldn't need to raid anyone. Nobody will need to get hurt." he said in a tremulous voice.

She sighed and plopped a hand on top of his head again. "No kid, that won't work. The Branwens are bandits. It's what we do. _You_ will do it too, one day."

His face scrounged up further, then his eyes lost focus again and he shook his head.

"Don't give me that," she said and flicked him on the forehead.

"Then…" he muttered, his scowl deepened and beads of sweat popped out on his forehead. "At least…at least don't hurt people, the tribe can take what they need without hurting people."

"Not exactly how it works kid." Raven said with a sigh.

"But, if you cause the least possible damage," he said slowly, trembling from head to foot. "If you do your best not to hurt people…then the town can recover."

Raven blinked, thinking on it, there was some merit to what the kid was saying.

The raid would damage a town, but if they left them with enough resources the town would recover…meaning they could come by again at some point in the future and raid it again. They could even try and copy what some gangs do in the cities, offering protection for a fee. The Branwens already fought any other bandits off whenever the tribe encountered them…

It wouldn't give the tribe as many resources all at once, but it _would_ allow for a far steadier flow of income than raiding a town for all it had. Settling down could cause issues for her however…but they could keep moving and simply restrict themselves to a particularly large area rather than roaming the continent. Worse comes to worse she could evacuate the majority of the tribe to whatever location.

Yes it'd be breaking tradition, and some of the tribe's members would not be happy, but she could quite easily bring most to her way of thinking, and beat everyone else into compliance.

Not to mention Shirou was really good at killing Grimm, she could use that to claim any bounties in place for Grimm slaying. And it would get him in the habit of going off to kill whatever she told him to. Perhaps she'd even get her assassin a bit earlier than she had at first envisioned.

Though knowing his temperament, Raven would likely have to settle for an attack dog.

Actually, if she were to offer the kid support and actively clear out the Grimm in whatever area she chose to make into the tribe's 'territory'…yes this could work.

She laughed and gave his head a gentle shake. "You know kid, you might just be onto something. Go grab Vernal for me, I've got a few ideas I need to bounce off her."

=][=

Vernal came awake with a start, her hand slipping around the grip of the dagger she kept hidden under her pillow.

She realized it wasn't an attack when she spotted Raven's kid, and she collapsed back to her bedroll. The night was still fairly dark, or at least as dark as it got with the moon shining over it. The chirping crickets assured her that the night was quite serene.

The kid fidgeted. Vernal blinked, she'd almost managed to forget he was there.

"What is it?" she asked a little snappishly.

"Umm…" he fidgeted some more. "You know umm…Raven went away for business."

Vernal's only answer was to scowl.

The kid fidgeted some more, there was just enough light to see his face darken as he blushed.

"I…she umm. She lets me sleep next to her, you know?" he mumbled.

"And?" Vernal asked when the kid trailed off.

"Umm…I…" the kid took a deep breath and steeled himself. "Can I sleep next to you Vernal? I uhh…I don't want to have the nightmare..."

Vernal felt her heart jump a bit in her chest, it was so rare to see the smarmy kid act cute. But she quite well recalled how he was when he slept. If she acquiesced that would be the end of any chance she had at any sleep for a while, not to mention his propensity to start tossing at random. She sighed and opened her mouth to tell him to sod off.

"Sure, whatever, get in here." Her traitorous mouth said instead, and she held open her blanket. Shirou crawled in next to her, just within his arm reach.

With a put-upon sigh she reached out and drew him in next to her, causing the kid to start fidgeting. "Now shut up and sleep."

"Umm…okay," he said with a nod.

It wasn't long before he started gasping and trying to toss about. Vernal sighed and held him closer.

"Shhh," she whispered into his ear. "Shhh, you're safe, the fire can't hurt you. Shhh."

He started to weep softly and shudder, and she couldn't stop her heart from going out to him. She idly wondered if his village had been attacked by bandits. A part of her hoped it hadn't been the Branwen tribe.

She hugged him a little tighter to her and settled in to wait for him to settle down. Vernal idly wondered if this was what having a little brother was like. They'd shared blood so going by old customs they were blood siblings now.

She shook her head and smirked at her idiot musings, and rubbed slow gentle circles on the kid's lower back. "Shhh, you're okay. They're gone. You're fine, shhh."

=][=

Yang stretched as she walked behind her dad, Ruby was sitting on his shoulders yapping excitedly and pointing every which way.

Dad had needed to go to Vale for work, and had decided to make a day of it with Yang and Ruby. Ruby's birthday was coming up, so Yang wanted to get her something.

"W-Wait Shirou! I told you not to pull me!" Yang looked over and saw a boy pulling an older girl by the hand, he must have been stronger than he looked seeing as to she looked about ready to topple over.

The two couldn't be any more different. He was fair skinned with amber eyes and red hair, her caramel skin and brown hair contrasted strongly with her ice-blue eyes. She looked much too young to be his mother, so Yang figured they were siblings. Weird how they looked nothing alike.

Then again, she wasn't one to talk.

"But I think I saw her!" he said excitedly, his eyes shining with enthusiasm as he picked up the pace and the girl he was pulling stumbled and almost fell.

"Just slow down!" she yelled as they turned a corner and were gone.

Yang's heart went out to the girl. Being a big sister was hard work.

She turned back and jogged to catch up with her dad as Ruby pointed with a plastic sword she'd pulled out of somewhere and said, "Onward noble steed!"

Out of the corner of her eye, Yang saw a poster for a game. The poster screamed in bold, blood-red letters, 'The Sword Hunter slices his way into Kung-Fu Ninja Slayer Ultimate Death Battle!'

And indeed, she could see his small hooded form standing in a prominent place surrounded by floating swords, the rest of the game's lineup rushing past him toward some unseen threat.

Yang smirked. She knew _exactly_ what to get Ruby for her birthday.

=][=

Raven felt her eyebrow twitch as Vernal stared at the cart full of scrap and assorted parts. She looked from the cart, to Raven, back to the cart. Raven crossed her arms and tossed her head. Shirou blinked and reached into the cart, pulling out pieces of scrap and parts seemingly at random before playing around with them. What a miracle, her bundle of stupid acting his age for once in his life.

It had been a year since Raven had set up her protection racket. Things had been a little dicey at the start when her men failed to find the scouts of another group of bandits on their first couple of villages, the first inkling they'd had of an incoming attack had been ten men descending onto the village guns blazing. Luckily her people had managed to put the bandits in a deadlock long enough to call for reinforcements, after that a simple show of force had been enough to make that gang decide to look for a softer target.

This had had the added effect of word of the Branwen's 'turf' disseminating through the region. The first few months had been tough, but after showing that the Branwens had been as good as their word, a few more villages and even a town or two had come under their protection. Thus she'd gained a steady supply of food, Dust, and some Lien.

It just so happened that today she'd run into a particular problem she had forgotten to account for. What if the village or town had been having a rather difficult couple of months and could not afford the protection fee for several months in a row?

She couldn't exactly just trash the place, if she did that they'd probably not recover in time to make their next payment. And to be fair to them, Kuzu village _had_ been fairly good at actually paying on time for half a year. But three months without payment? She had to draw a line.

She had opened her mouth to tell the mayor of Kuzu that they'd lose the Tribe's protection until they could make a proper payment, when Raven had felt Shirou's gaze on the back of her head.

That was all he did, he stared, in that unblinkingly attentive way of his, and the words had stuck in her throat. She _knew_ that bringing him along had been a bad idea.

To make a long story short, she'd discussed alternative payment methods with the mayor, and now she was the chagrined owner of a cart full of scrap and assorted parts. Though she _had_ made sure that the mayor understood in no uncertain terms, that if this became a trend, there would be Trouble in the future of Kuzu village.

"Raven…" Vernal finally spoke, her voice carefully neutral.

"Yeah!?" Raven snapped when her adjutant trailed off.

"I uhh," Vernal said, looking at Shirou bundling what looked to be wires around a pipe. "I mean…no, it's nothing."

"It better be nothing." Raven muttered sullenly and kicked the cart, stupid Shirou with his stupid eyes and his stupid altruism that she'd not managed to beat out of him yet.

"I'm done," Shirou said, holding a ramshackle looking bardiche up at her.

Raven blinked and looked down at the kid. "Huh?"

"Aw," Vernal said with a smirk. "He made you a little gift."

Shirou stood on the tips of his toes to hold the weapon a little higher. She took it and inspected it. It was ugly, but a few test swings showed that it was surprisingly well balanced, testing the edge of it with her thumb resulted in her slicing her thumb open. She absently activated her Aura, the cut closing with a muted red flash as she walked over to the nearest tree and swung the weapon at the trunk.

It cut right through it with surprisingly little resistance.

She inspected it further as the tree noisily fell to the ground, and saw that it had what looked to be a bolt handle near the head of the bardiche, pulling it open she saw it also had a chamber, though it did not have rifling or a barrel, she traced the wiring with a finger to the places where it was welded to the blade.

"This is a Lightning Bardiche." she said with surprise.

Shirou nodded.

"And you made it with that junk."

Shirou nodded again.

"Since when do you know how to make weapons?" she asked him with a frown, if he was still keeping secrets…

Shirou scowled at the cart. "Uhh…since just now? I think? It felt right."

She tossed the bardiche to Vernal and sat on her haunches next to the kid. "Anything else you can make out of that pile of junk?"

Shirou blinked and turned back to the cart.

"Maybe?"

=][=

Dark pulsed in surprise as It realized It had allowed Its focus to wander. Tearing a moon apart _without_ completely destroying a planet's ecosystem was proving to be a greater challenge than It had initially anticipated.

But It was certain that a being such as Dark could figure this conundrum out. Eventually.

Thinking of eventually…Dark concentrated on the partition of Itself that kept tabs on Its little masterpiece. And saw that in the time It had been pondering, the masterpiece was not so little anymore.

Dark tittered in amusement. Its little masterpiece still considered itself a protector rather than a destroyer.

Dark had seen Its toy be picked up by a wonderfully destructive human some time back. Dark had in actuality been quite excited to see how the human female would help nurture the destructive potential of that little soul.

It had come as a complete surprise to see Dark's toy all but refuse its natural calling. So much so that its acquaintance with the female chafed at the little soul.

Dark had said It would not interfere. Except It had.

It was, after all, a God, It got to be a little meddlesome.

Thinking of Godhood. Dark had rather hoped the little soul would pray to It. But nine revolutions around the star of that orb, and not a peep.

Dark replayed Its interaction with the little soul. And realized that It had forgotten to tell the toy to pray to It.

"Light must never learn of this." Dark muttered to Itself, then felt the little soul chafing once more at its proximity to the violent female.

Dark soothed it absently. The female was doing an adequate job of raising the toy. Dark would rather not gamble on the little soul wandering and ending up under the eye of a lesser care giver.

Besides, a small glimpse into the female's mind had shown that her main aim was to nurture the Exemplar's destructive potential. What better care giver could there be?

=][=

Qrow chuckled as his niece all but vibrated in her seat as she looked at all the tools of the weapon forging trade. She was nearing the end of her first semester at Signal and she'd insisted on building her own weapon.

She had become even more adorable as she grew into her teens, not less. Yang was already turning heads and breaking hearts, but Ruby was in a league of her own.

She looked more like Summer every day, it was almost uncanny.

He shook his head hard to clear it.

"Alright shrimp," he groused. "Have you thought about the type of weapon you wanna make?"

Ruby emitted a sound between a squeal and a Nevermore Murder siren.

"Has she!" Tai said with a smirk from his perch at the corner of the room. "Oh Qrow you'll be ecstatic."

Qrow wondered exactly why Tai had insisted on being present for this, today Ruby and him were only going to plan and make a few concept sketches, the bulk of the work wouldn't happen until later.

Ruby stopped squealing and took a deep breath. "ItsgonnabeawesomeuncleQrowI-"

Qrow put a hand over his niece's mouth. "Try again but in a language understandable by humans."

She flung his hand off. "I wanna scythe! That's also a gun!"

Qrow smiled. He knew that his niece idolized him to an extent, but he couldn't help feeling flattered.

"It also should turn into a sword! A big sword!" Ruby continued.

Qrow puffed his chest out with pride before speaking with entirely false modesty. "Now Ruby, you don't have to copy Harbinger _exac-"_

"And it needs to be able to shoot the sword-blade out really far!" she said, her eyes sparkling.

Wait. "What?"

"Oh! Oh! Think we can make it like, a sword machine gun? With a sniper rifle attached!? _That makes the swords explode!?"_

"Wait Ruby, slow down. Geez, I told you that you shouldn't take everything I say at face value when I'm _really_ drunk." Qrow said with a laugh.

Ruby puffed her cheeks out and fumed. "But the Sword Hunter can shoot swords! How will I show I'm following in his footsteps if I can't shoot swords!?"

Qrow would later swear he heard a vinyl record scratch as his brain slammed to a halt. He could hear Tai chortling behind him.

"Come again?" he asked, his voice hollow.

"The Sword Hunter!" she said with a smile so bright it almost made his eyes water. "He can shoot swords! I'm gonna be a hero just like him and save the world! One town at a time!"

Tai was outright laughing.

"But…but the scythe?" Qrow asked.

"Oh! You haven't seen!?" she asked as she fished out her scroll and showed him a video of the elusive brat all grown up, using a pole arm with a sickle-blade at the end to chop through the armor of a huge Deathstalker. "He used a scythe in the latest video and I thought 'you know who also uses a scythe and also a sword? Uncle Qrow!' and so I figured you could teach me to be more like the Sword Hunter!"

The elusive brat not only does not have the decency to be easily found, or at least to be a worthless bandit like Raven. Nooooo, other than forcing Qrow to go look for him every other mission now he's stolen Ruby from him as well!?

That's it, he was going to track Raven down again and give her a piece of his mind! And make her tell him when was the last time she saw the brat!

There _had_ to be a connection there! Only any time he'd staked out the bandit camp, there was nobody that looked out of place among all those thugs. And it didn't help that no two confirmed sightings of the brat happened in close proximity to one another.

At least it would be easier to find her, the tribe wasn't moving around as much since they started a protection racket some years back.

"Oh! Oh! Oh! Think it could like, have a scythe on one side and a sword on the other!?" Ruby asked excitedly.

Qrow pinched the bridge of his nose in an attempt to forestall the headache, before saying "Screw it," and taking out his hip flask.

=][=

"It's not a battle skirt it's a waist cape!" Jaune Arc squealed as his voice broke.

"Oh no," Ruby said as she walked next to the boy that picked her up out of the crater she'd accidentally made. "I know a battle skirt when I see one."

She had at first been really excited when she saw the older boy, thinking that maybe this time she'd run into Mr. Sword Hunter, but like every time before, it had just been another boy copying his style.

"Waist! Cape!" Jaune repeated. "See? It's open on the front and everything! It has to be closed to count as a skirt!"

"Nope! It's a battle skirt!"

Jaune sighed. "I give up."

Ruby grinned and looked the boy over. Standing at six feet and an inch, he was a little taller than average, well built. Wearing black pants, a maroon battle-skirt, a black shirt with a chestplate over it, and over that a maroon hoodie.

She had pointed out that the Sword Hunter used a half-cape and bundled it up into a hood, Jaune had pointed out that he was emulating a variant outfit the Sword Hunter had used once in Atlas, and they'd become instant friends.

"By the way, where are we going exactly?" he asked.

She blinked. "How would I know? I'm following your lead!"

"I'm following _your_ lead here!" he gasped.

"Why are you following _me!?_ I exploded!"

They stared at each other in horrified silence for a moment. Before Ruby broke out into uncontrollable giggles.

"Think they have a sign set up? Pointing to orientation maybe?" he asked, making her giggle harder. "Maybe a map?"

=][=

Jaune dodged another swing by Cardin, the wind of it lifting the hood off his head, then stepped forward and thrust his sword into the larger boy's gut right beneath his chestplate.

Cardin grunted and stumbled back, before roaring and slamming his mace against the ground. The red Dust crystal that was set in it flashed and an explosion sent Jaune reeling. The heat of it causing his eyes to water.

He collapsed his shield into a sheath and rolled under a horizontal swing by Cardin, managing to graze the boy's shin with the edge of his sword. Then immediately redeployed his shield to block Cardin's return swing.

The impact numbed his arm to the shoulder and caused him to stagger back. But according to the monitor it had not caused him almost any Aura.

Aura, takes away the hurt, leaves the pain.

Jaune would be the first to admit he was not the best fighter, even more so since he had not yet unlocked his Semblance. But he could absolutely say there were two good things about himself.

Jaune had really great stamina, he had built up a very good pain tolerance, and he had a_ lot_ of Aura.

Wait, that's three things.

Cardin roared and went for another vertical downward strike. Jaune stepped into it, angling his shield so it would slide off of it and to the floor, then stabbed his sword up into Cardin's throat, causing the boy to stagger back yet again.

Cardin shook his head and growled.

"That's it! I'm beating you into a paste you-" he was interrupted by the buzzer that signaled the end of the match.

"Mr. Winchester's Aura has dropped beneath fifteen percent!" Ms. Goodwitch said, then pointed at Jaune with her riding crop. "The winner of the bout is Mr. Arc!"

Jaune took a deep breath and nodded to Ms. Goodwtich before stepping off the platform and making his way to his team. His partner Pyrrah beamed at him, he grinned and couldn't help but hold his hand up for a high five.

"Not a bad fight bossman!" Nora said and elbowed him on the gut, knocking the air out of him.

"Thanks," he gasped with a grin. "Still need to improve a lot though."

"Well…" Pyrrah said, her cheeks turning bright red, could she be coming down with a cold? She began to play with a small errant lock of her hair. "W-Well, maybe I could…you know. I mean _we_ could…"

"Ms. Nikos!" Ms. Goodwitch called, causing Pyrrah to jump and give off a startled squeak. "Ms. Xiao Long! Step on down!"

Pyrrah sighed, looking dejected. Jaune put a hand on her shoulder, her eyes widened and she turned to look at his brightly smiling face.

"Don't worry! You've got this!" he said with all the conviction he could muster, it was a leader's duty to encourage his team after all. "We believe in you Pyrrah! Go down there and kick Yang's butt!"

"I heard that vomit boy!" Yang called out from right next to team JNPR. Pyrrah's cheeks turned bright red again and she gave him a dazzling smile.

"Yeah, I've got this." she said with a confident nod.

"Heh!" Yang said as they began to make their way to the ring, she slammed her right fist into her left palm with such force it let out a palpable shockwave. "Confident aren't you? Well get ready to get punched into the ground!"

Pyrrah's smile took on a predatory edge. "Right back at you!"

Jaune settled in to cheer for his partner, pulled out his scroll, and made a note for later to ask her what it was she was going to say.

Hopefully she didn't need anything _too_ difficult. Otherwise it might cut into his evening training.

=][=

"Seriously Ruby! Can you talk about anything that's _not_ weapons or the Sword Hunter!? And would it kill you to see where you're walking!?" Weiss demanded testily and snatched Ruby's scroll out of her hands, which just went to show that her partner had no taste for the better things in life.

"But Weiss! They're updating the Sword Hunter's character in Kung-Fu Ninja Slayer Ultimate Death Battle II! This is like! Super duper big news!" Ruby said as she jumped up and down in excitement.

"The Vytal festival is right around the corner! A festival dedicated to celebrating the cultures of Remnant!" Weiss said, pointing to the numerous decorations and merrymaking on the streets. "And the only thing you can think about is a stupid ga-aah!?" Weiss screeched as her team leader materialized in front of her with a burst of rose petals.

"Do you think he might come watch the Vytal festival!?" Ruby asked with stars in her eyes.

Yang put Ruby in a headlock and began to give her a noogie. "Seriously Rubes, you need to stop gushing every two steps or we'll never make it to the docks."

"But why are we going to the stupid docks!?" Ruby said as she shrugged out of her sister's 'affection,' "It's boring and stinks of fish!"

"The students from Vacuo are arriving by ship today, and it is _our_ solemn duty as one of Beacon's top teams to make them feel welcome." Weiss said, standing prim and proper as she puffed her chest out with pride.

"She wants to scope out the competition." Blake deadpanned, not taking her eyes off her book.

Weiss whirled around and screeched. "You can't prove that!"

"On your left!" said the happy voice of a young man. Team RWBY turned just in time to see a blonde monkey faunus sprinting past them.

"Huh," Yang said, "wonder what that's about."

"Stop that Faunus!" said a disheveled man who turned the corner, huffing and puffing as he ran. "Stop the stowaway!"

"Oh! I see." Yang said helpfully before turning to her sister. "Anyways Ruby, the Sword Hunter hasn't come see us in years, I don't see w-"

"Why are you just standing around!?" Weiss demanded and began to chase after the faunus. "After him!"

"Whah!? Okay!" Ruby said and disappeared in a puff of rose petals, the belated cry of 'Stowaway!' reaching her ears a moment later.

She had to hand it to Mr. Stowaway, he could run. Still, she had all but caught up to him when, chortling, he made to duck into an alleyway. Where there was the sound of stone striking bone and a loud "Oomph!"

Ruby turned the corner to see the faunus boy she'd been chasing being held face down against the ground with an arm pushed against his back at a brutal angle.

Crouched atop the monkey faunus was a scowling young man, he looked to be in his twenties. He was dressed in faded jeans and a blue button up shirt with long sleeves. He had bright red hair with several streaks of white running through it.

"Okay bro, no joke," said the monkey faunus affably. "That was a really good right hook."

The young man blinked. "Uhh…thanks?"

"So, think you could, you know? Let me go? All I did was stowaway! Not like I hurt anyone!"

"No." The young man grunted, and a huge raven flapped down and settled on his shoulder with a caw. Its beady black eye settled on Ruby, it then lightly pecked the side of the man's face.

Did he have a pet raven? That was so cool! She'd never seen a pet raven before!

It didn't take long for the rest of her team to catch up to them. The moment they did, the redhead's raven gave off a startled caw and flapped away. Only for the young man to move so quickly that he was a blur, and snatched the bird out of the air.

The raven squawked and cawed in indignation, pecking at his hand and flapping its wings, but it remained securely trapped by its feet.

"Ah!" Weiss said. "Good! You caught the…the…the rapscallion!"

"Rapscallion?" Blake asked. _"Really?"_

Weiss blushed.

"I'm not a rapscallion!" called out the monkey Faunus. "I'm a stowaway!"

Fortunately, the cops arrived at that moment and took custody of the boy. To his credit, the monkey faunus did not resist, acting as if he'd been caught at a prank more than anything.

"See you later bro!" he said to the young man as he was led away. "Hope to see you around the festival!"

Ruby turned back to the redheaded man, and saw that he had gotten a more secure grip on the bird, gently but firmly pinning its wings to its sides.

Somehow, the raven managed to look supremely offended.

Looking at him standing, he was of a height with Jaune, maybe a little taller. But much more…built. He wasn't barrel-chested, but he was broad shouldered and he moved with the easy grace of a Huntsman. Ruby couldn't help but think there was something familiar about his amber-brown eyes.

They all stared at each other as he scowled at them. Weiss cleared her throat into her hand. Blake's bow twitched. Yang made popping noises with her mouth.

The raven in his hand squawked indignantly and bit the man's finger hard enough to draw blood. He brought the bird to eye-level with him.

"Really Raven? _Really?"_ he deadpanned.

The raven, which was apparently named Raven, cawed at him, and resumed biting.

Yang snickered. "Is the raven's name really Raven? Isn't that a little unimaginative?"

The man smirked. "Not exactly my fault, she won't answer to anything else."

He made to walk around them, they parted to let him through as he very lightly flicked the bird's beak, causing it to caw and bite another of his fingers.

Something about the finger flick was…nostalgic, and Ruby found herself following after him.

"Ssssoooooo. Are you a Huntsman?" she asked as she fell into step next to him. Over her shoulder she saw her team giving her incredulous looks, not that she could blame them, Ruby was usually loath to talk to strangers.

But there was just something about the scowling man that made her feel at ease.

"No," he said and played with the bird by snatching his fingers away before it could bite him.

"Aaah," Ruby blinked as she saw they were heading in the same direction her team had been traveling towards. "Wait, are you headed for the docks?"

The man nodded as the bird in his grip squawked indignantly at him.

"I'm looking for someone" he said belatedly. "I'm hoping she'll come to this Vytal festival."

"Ohhh! Is she a Huntress!? In training, I mean." She asked.

His scowl deepened, her question distracting him enough for the bird to get a good bite on one of his fingers.

"Maybe?" he asked, seemingly unaware of the bird mauling one of his fingers. He came to a stop, and Ruby saw that they had reached the docks, his gaze looking over the people disembarking from the ship.

Strangely enough she didn't see the monkey faunus, he must have been made to pay for his passage and left.

Elsewhere in Vale, two very bedraggled cops gave up the chase and wondered how anyone could pick a lock with a tail of all things.

Ruby joined him in watching the disembarking trainee Huntsmen. She'd normally be super excited about seeing many new weapons, but her attention kept drifting back to the stranger, and realized she did not know his name.

Weiss and Blake began to discuss strategy and speculate what fighting styles would pair well with the weapons they saw. Yang stepped up next to the stranger and leaned over the bird in his hand, then began to talk to it in baby tones. "Well hello little Raven, you're a cranky lady aren't you?"

The bird glared at her with a beady black eye.

"Oh yes you are!" Yang said with a smile. "But even a cranky lady cannot resist the scritchies!"

With that Yang lowered one finger and began to gently rub Raven's head. The bird looked incredibly offended again, then seemed to reluctantly accept the affection, her tail feathers fluttering for a moment.

"See? Nobody says no to scritchies! Whose a good little birdie?" Yang gushed.

The raven settled into what could best be described as determined annoyance while her tail betrayed her enjoyment. The stranger merely smiled.

"Hey handsome, mind if I hold her?" Yang asked with a smirk and a wink.

The stranger's smirk widened. "Sorry but I don't think that's a good idea. Raven here is pretty crafty, she might get away from you, and since she's in a mood I'd have to track her down.

"And I worry that she can't exactly take care of herself." The bird squawked in indignation and bit his finger. "I mean just look at her, biting the hand that feeds. It's my fault for spoiling her, really."

Ruby couldn't help but feel there was a…hidden layer to the conversation that she wasn't privy to.

"I mean she's usually pretty smart, but she's got her really dumb moments, I just can't let her out of my sight when she's in a mood." He continued affably.

"FUK YU!" the bird screeched.

Ruby and Yang stared.

"Did…did the bird just talk?" Weiss asked, coming over.

"Sorry," he said with a small smile. "She's a bit of a potty beak, I don't know where she gets it from."

"FUK YU!" the bird repeated then screeched, glaring at him with a single beady black eye.

"That's a remarkable pet you have there." Weiss said and extended a finger, only for the bird to bite her.

Weiss yelped and pulled away, the bird squawked at her threateningly.

"The stupid bird bit me!" Weiss said, her finger bright red where the bird's sharp beak had almost cut through her skin.

"Whoah Weiss-cream, you're even bad with animals huh?" Yang asked.

"I'll have you know I'm great with animals!" Weiss screeched.

"Bad Raven," the man deadpanned, though his lips trembled in clear indication of mirth. "Don't bite strangers."

Raven bit him.

He ignored the bird as he turned his eyes to the disembarking students. Ruby did the same, wondering when it would be a good time to bring up the fact that they had forgotten to introduce themselves. She saw a violet-haired girl walk with a sword sheathed at her hip.

"Oooh! I wonder what type of weapon that is," she said pointing.

Before Weiss could tell her off for pointing, the stranger spoke. "It's a collapsible crossbow-sword. It looks like it has a hundred and eighty pound draw, uses gravity dust so that the draw on the reload is about sixty pounds. She has mostly bodkin bolts but it's likely she has a few specialty dust bolts. The sword form looks to be a single-edged cutlass, though due to the mecha-shift, on its sword-form only the latter half of the weapon actually has an edge, making it optimal to push past her guard or grapple her."

He said it distractedly as he looked from one student to another with a scowl.

That…couldn't…

"Uhh," Yang said pointing to a blonde girl with a bronze-colored spear. "What about her?"

Ruby saw his eyes flicker to the girl Yang was pointing to for an instant before they went back to roaming through the crowd. "Bronze-plated spear with the head forged so the weapon is somewhat more useful with wide sweeping strikes. Doesn't have a multi-form but it has a white dust crystal embedded in it, I suspect her Semblance interacts particularly well with wind-elemental dust, probably creating gusts of wind or perhaps even a vortex."

"What about him?" Weiss asked, pointing.

"Assault rifle/trident/guandao. Channels electricity, fires compacted electricity dust to deliver an electric shock at range."

"Oh! What abooout…"

He had a wealth of information for every weapon they asked him about, they continued like that until everyone from Shade Academy had disembarked. The stranger's scowl deepened when the people stopped disembarking from the ship. Even the bird seemed sad that he hadn't found whoever he was looking for.

"Time for me to go," he said, scowling at the ship. With that he turned away from them and began to simply walk away.

"Hey wait!" Ruby called, but the stranger did not pause. "What's your name!?"

He stopped at the entrance to an alley and turned to look at her, and she froze. The sunlight glinting off his eyes made them seemingly glow like burnished gold.

She knew those eyes.

"I'm not important, Ruby." he said with a small and warm smile, then walked into the alley.

She immediately used her Semblance to run into the alleyway after him. "W-Wait! Mr. Sword Hunter!"

But the alley was empty.

=][=

Shirou walked calmly on the roofs of Vale, using the higher vantage point to cast a wider net. Raven seemed to have had enough and thrashed so hard in his grip that he was forced to choose between holding her tightly enough to hurt her, or letting go.

He opened his hand and an instant later Raven stood in front of him, stretching to her full height. Putting the top of her head just under his nose. Her glare could punch a hole through a steel plate. She cracked her knuckles one by one.

"So, what do you have to say for yourself?" she asked in a very calm tone.

Shirou blinked, twice.

"I have no regrets." he answered with a sage nod.

Raven jumped, put him in a headlock, and began to dig her knuckles into the top of his head.

"Manhandle me will you!" she groused. "You are getting too uppity for your own good!"

"Ooooow," he deadpanned, not at all attempting to free himself. "Raveeeen, stop iiiit."

"Shut it!" she growled. "Force me to put up with that humiliation! Next time you want to use my Semblance you'll have to beg on your knees!"

Shirou smirked.

"Who was the one that was preening when Yang-" Shirou was cut off as Raven shifted her grip to cover his mouth.

"Shut it!" she groused. Then pushed him away and turned her back to him. She carefully arranged her hair so he couldn't see her face. But by the red tips of her ears she couldn't be _too_ unhappy. "You done looking for today?"

Shirou felt his smirk vanish. "Yeah."

Raven drew a blade with Omen and slashed the air, creating a portal home, and stepped through. He gave the city one last morose look before turning his back on it and stepping through the portal.

The very next instant the portal closed with a sound not unlike a whetstone sliding across the edge of a blade.


	11. Chapter 9

Well 'Nother Saturday 'Nother upload.

Pulled quite a bit of overtime during the week, but I was able to finish the chapter. It was actually going to be significantly longer, but I decided to cut what I had originally planned to be the end of this chapter and have it be the start of the next one. I think it just flows better that way.

Also, seriously do people not read author's notes? I work hard on these. ;_;

Well not really. But the point remains, they're informative.

I was rather surprised by the number of people who were somewhat angry with me for not having Shirou go to Beacon. But, I mean, come on guys, do you _really_ think Raven would let that gullible do-gooder anywhere _near_ Ozpin? Cause I don't. Ergo, I skipped it! It seemed the right thing to do! It's not the last thing I'll skip either!

Just Beacuase.

Yes I misspelled that to get on people's nerves. Just like how I purposefully pronounce gif in a way that will infuriate all parties.

Did, a lot, of overtime. So I did not have a lot of time to write. I've got a good chunk of the next chapter written (what was formerly part of this chapter as mentioned before) but just like last week. I cannot guarantee an upload next saturday. I'll give it a good old shot, but them's the shakes. Ye've been warned.

As always. If you liked it, please drop me a review and go into detail as to why you liked it.

If you didn't like it...uhh...insert something witty. I'm too tired, did too much Overtime. Anyways review and let me know why. Just please lets try and keep it civil, yeh?

Also, check your PMs. Fanfiction has stopped letting me know when I've received a PM, and I answer reviews via PM. So maybe I've responded to your review and you just weren't notified.

Or you have PMs turned off. I dunno.

Had a bit of luck with a Beta. Maybe. Hopefully. He asked not to be named. But kudos to him nonetheless.

Am I too tired for an emoticon?

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Strategic snippet something or other.

（ ￣△￣)

=][=

Amber took a hasty step back, fear clawing its way up her spine.

"Come on miss," said the tall blonde man ingratiatingly as he followed her until her back hit the wall of the building she'd just exited. "I'm just asking for a small donation here. As a thanks for us risking our necks keeping the roads clear and safe."

Amber looked at the cleaver sheathed at his hip, she hated that when she spoke her voice quivered. "U-Um…t-the mayor already paid the monthly fee."

"Not asking for a fee sweetie." The man said, the greedy glint growing in his grey eyes. "As I said, just asking for a small donatio-"

He cut off as a pretty, silver-haired girl with an ugly jagged scar on her cheek punched him in the back of the head so hard he bent forward. "Gods' sake Shay! Didn't I tell you not to do stupid shit!?"

The girl was dressed in brown cargo pants and a figure-hugging white tank top, she turned to Amber and gave her an apologetic smile, taking hold of the back of Shay's head and keeping him from straightening up. "I'm really sorry miss," she said while sheepishly rubbing the back of her head, "please forgive him! He's new to this whole thing! An intern if you will! He doesn't understand how things are yet! I'm sorry we'll stop bothering you!"

She forcibly pulled the man away, Amber blinked and started on her way out of town, hitching the sack with her groceries a bit higher on her shoulder, but dragged her steps as she heard Shay and the woman begin to argue.

"Why'd you stop me Sylvie!? I coulda gotten a bit of pocket money easy!" Shay growled.

"One! You are not man enough to get to call me Sylvie, call me anything other than Sylvia again and you will kiss the ground! Two! Eyes up here if you wanna keep 'em jackass! Only one man is allowed to look at and touch these puppies and you are _nowhere near_ in the same league as him! And three! _Just how stupid are you Shady!?"_ Sylvia yelled back.

"Don't call me Shady!" Shady demanded and was subsequently ignored.

"I've told you time and again! You don't shake down people in our turf!" Sylvia growled.

"And why not!?"

"Did you already forget what happened last time you jackass!? Shirou will make nothing but crappy food for days! I don't wanna deal with that because you're an idiot!"

Shady spat noisily. "Bull-shit! Raven's kid won't know!"

"_He always knows you shit-stain!" _Sylvia shrieked. _"He always __**fucking**__ knows!_ In fact, pull out your fucking wallet! I'm gonna count your fucking money!"

"Sod off!"

Amber suppressed a giggle and picked up her pace. Ever since the gang had settled in a few years ago the roads were much safer, but that did come at the price of having gangsters patrol the roads and town, everyone had been very surprised when they actually did a good job warding off bandits, thieves, and Grimm. Whoever this 'Raven's kid' was, Amber was grateful that he was around if he could somehow keep the gangsters in check.

If she sent him a fruit's basket as a thank you gift, would it even make its way to him?

Amber shook her head and picked up her pace.

=][=

Shirou sneezed.

"Are you seriously catching a cold in the middle of a desert?" Vernal sneered, the blazing sun making sweat fall in rivulets down her face and arms.

Shirou gave her the flattest stare he could while twisting Kansho in the head of the mole crab he'd just stabbed, its legs twitched as its brackish blood spilled onto the sand. "I don't get sick."

Vernal snorted and shot one of the fleeing mole crabs, causing it to explode in a shower of electrified gizzards. She pouted her lips and tilted her head a little, then pulled the trigger again, watching with interest as the recoil of one barrel reloaded the other barrel of the short-barrel double shotgun. She had to admit to herself, the kid did good work.

"You shouldn't waste ammo," Shirou admonished and threw Bakuya at another fleeing mole crab, the blade stabbed into it with a wet crunch causing the animal to tumble down the dune as it fell.

"Bite me," Vernal said and threw her other weapon, cutting the legs off her seventh mole crab as it exploded out of the sand and tried to charge her. "How many more of these are there Shirou? I swear I've got sand in my-" she caught the wind blade as it came back to her, "boot! The one I literally tucked my pantleg into! How did it get in there!?"

"It's not my fault you wanted to come along because you were itching to try the new mods to the Fire Blade." Shirou muttered sullenly.

"Well it was either this or try and find a Grimm!" she said and sullenly kicked a pile of sand into another pile of sand. "And I'd have to drive _pretty far_ to find one back home!"

"Look I'm pretty sure we're done," Shirou said, he took a step forward and another mole crab exploded out of the sand next to him. His arm swung out reflexively and absently bifurcated it, spilling its clear, briny blood across the sand.

Shirou and Vernal both stared at it.

"Okay," he said. "_Now_ I'm pretty sure we're done."

The two of them waited. Vernal stomped the sand tentatively.

A portal opened next to Shirou with the sound of a blade cutting through the air. Raven leaned out of the portal, took hold of Shirou's shoulder, and pulled him through, the portal collapsed an instant later.

Vernal blinked, twice. "Wait…but…what about me?"

She looked around at the dead mole crabs, and remembered that the extermination job they'd taken included bringing as many of them as possible back to the settlement. Mole crab was, after all, a Vacuan delicacy.

"Shit."

=][=

"Why are we on a tr-?" Shirou began and was cutoff as Raven placed her hand over his mouth.

"Yang and her team are fighting in this train," she whispered into his ear. "Yang is outclassed, she has a chance to win, but I don't think she will. She's been fighting all day and night and hasn't slept and barely rested. If she loses, you go in, bail her out, and get back. Understand?"

Shirou nodded his head, brought up his mask and hood, and did the one thing he absolutely hated to do.

He waited.

If he concentrated he could feel impacts traveling through the floor of the train. Closing his eyes, he could hear the muffled gunfire and the pings of ricochets. He longed to go out and fight, protect Yang and Ruby, stop the conflict, but he forced himself to wait. It wouldn't be long now. He took a deep breath and whispered, "Trace, on."

"Go!" Raven whispered and Shirou opened his eyes, used his Aura to strengthen his entire body, and threw himself through the portal. He grit his teeth through the long familiar discomfort and landed with a soft thud in a different train car. He took in the scene in an instant, the dents on several of the containers and the roof, and the small woman holding a dolon named Hush ready to stab it into an unconscious Yang.

Shirou kicked off the floor with such force that the metal squealed in protest, Neopolitan had a scant instant to see him coming before the black blade of Kanshou nearly tore her skull in two. She threw herself back, the black blade cutting a line through her hair. Shirou stomped forward and threw himself into a flurry of blows, he targeted her eyes, her jugular, the arteries of her arm pits and the inside of her thighs. One attack led into the second led into the third led into the fourth, each attack just a little faster than the one before.

Hush was a frantic blur, ringing deafeningly as Neopolitan was pushed away from Yang, her face scrunched up in concentration. Shirou noted that her eyes changed color every time she blinked, from brown and pink, to brown and white, to white, to green. He discarded his interest in it, it was not important.

There was a flash of light that would have been blinding had Shirou not used his Aura to strengthen his eyes. He stomped forward, twisted his hips and back, and slammed the edge of Bakuya into the very surprised woman's gut, a thin pink shimmer the only thing that kept her from being cut in two. The force behind the strike was enough to send her flying backwards, ricocheting off a metal box hard enough to dent it before she slammed into the wall behind it.

She looked up at him, her eyes wide with surprise and her face breaking into a rictus of fear. Shirou threw Bakuya at her, her entire body broke and fell apart into glass shards the moment the black blade met her flesh.

Shirou dispersed the weapons and knelt next to Yang, taking hold of her arm and collapsing Ember Celica so he could check her pulse. It was strong and steady, good, it was just a simple knockout.

"Yang," he said as he softly slapped her cheek. "Yang wake up."

Yang frowned, her lips pursing.

"Yang." He repeated gently, and then a portal opened next to him.

Raven…He turned to look at the door leading into the next train car, he could hear someone else fighting there. He looked back to the portal.

"W-Wait! Sword Hunter!?" said Yang's voice beneath him in a higher pitch than usual. He looked down, and saw that she had come awake, she crawled backwards away from him. "Why are you here!? How!? After all this time!?"

Shirou looked back at the portal, before standing up and running to the door. He couldn't leave Ruby and her team face whatever this was alone.

"W-Wait!" Yang screamed, "Sword Hunter! Wait!"

But Shirou didn't.

=][=

Yang sprang to her feet, her eyes turning to the red and black vortex. Was _this_ the Sword Hunter's Semblance? No, it couldn't be, his Semblance was making swords, right? She shook her head to clear it, and almost fell when the world tilted sickeningly. By the time she got her bearings back the vortex was gone.

She slapped her cheeks to get her head in the game and ran further into the train, as she reached the door, she heard the throaty roar of a chainsaw followed immediately by the shriek of steel shearing through steel. She rushed in through the door and saw the Sword Hunter locking blades with a _huge_ guy, behind them she could see Weiss reading a glyph, only to abandon it as the Sword Hunter and the White Fang member sprang apart, then rushed each other again.

Yang rushed in but was forced back by a sweeping swing of the chainsaw-sword that the Sword Hunter parried with his black sword and forced over his head, then ducked into the faunus' guard and stabbed the white sword into the mook's gut. The faunus growled and struck forward again, only for the Sword Hunter to duck back and throw his blades at the faunus, who sidestepped easily and they went flying past him and ricocheted around the cart, sending Weiss ducking for cover.

The Sword Hunter created another pair and rushed the faunus, moving so quickly he was a blur even to Yang's enhanced senses, and she could for the most part keep up with Pyrrah. Even so, the huge faunus was able to parry and dodge most of the attacks. Until the swords the Sword Hunter had thrown slammed point first into his back, staggering him forward, the faunus threw out a clumsy horizontal swing.

The White Fang mook was good, the unexpected attack staggered him for no more than a fraction of a second. The Sword Hunter was better, he capitalized on that infinitesimal opening, ducking under the mook's attack by such a small margin that it made a cut into his already tattered hood, slammed the white sword into the faunus' wrist with such force that the chainsaw sword fell from suddenly nerveless fingers, simultaneously the black sword came up in an uppercut that sent the faunus staggering back.

The Sword Hunter ducked forward and hooked the edge of the white sword behind the faunus' knee and pulled, dropping him to his knees with a shout. He turned in a swift pirouette and stabbed the black blade at the back of the faunus' head, forcing him to hold his arms forward to hold himself up.

He dropped the swords and an instant later a huge black bow appeared in his hands with a bright blue flash, an enormous steel arrow appeared on the other, he pulled the bow taut in an instant with a squeal of tortured metal, and released the arrow squarely at the nape of the mook's neck. The faunus' Aura broke with a sound like shattering glass as he fell forward, cradling his bleeding neck. He stopped moving when the Sword Hunter delivered a vicious stomp into the side of his head.

He turned his back on Yang and sprinted past Weiss.

"Wait!" Weiss and Yang said, then took off after him.

They emerged into a fight between Blake and Roman Torchwick, she was taking cover behind a stone statue of herself as the Sword Hunter rushed past her.

"Wait wha-?" she began before the ring of steel striking steel drowned her out.

"Seriously!?" Torchwick shouted as he fended off the Sword Hunter's flurry of attacks. "Now I get the bloody _Sword Hunter_ here!? What is with my luck toooo-oh shit."

What had begun as a chagrined shout ended in an awed whisper as, with a blue flash, a huge stone _thing_ that could tangentially be called a sword appeared on the young man's hand. The thing was so big it did not properly fit in the train car.

Roman laughed. "I'm surprised you can lift that but do you _seriously_ think you'll be able to swing that thing in he-"

The Sword Hunter swung the jagged stone slab, it sheared through the side of the train car as if it were made of wet tissue paper, the shriek of rent metal drowned out Torchwick's surprised shout as he brought his cane up in a desperate block, and was slammed partially through the wall opposite to where he had been standing, an instant later Sword Hunter was in front of him, pummeling Torchwick with his left fist until the thief's Aura broke.

The Sword Hunter took a moment to look at Torchwick as the latter tried to surrender, and drove his fist into the side of Torchwick's head who slumped down unconscious. He was then pulled out of the wall and dropped unceremoniously to the floor.

"Yang what-?" Blake began, fell quiet, pointed at the Sword Hunter as he tested the opposite door, opened her mouth, croaked, then closed her mouth with a 'click.'

Yang took a deep breath. "Will you stop for just one-Hey!"

Finding that the opposite door was locked, the Sword Hunter had slashed the ceiling and jumped through. By the time Yang and her team had crawled to the roof, he was three train cars away charging at a group of those Atlas armored suits.

"Slow down!" Yang shouted, but the train drowned her out. The Sword Hunter caught up with the armored suit and sheared the legs off of it with one swing, before sweeping it off the train with the return swing. Then did the same to two more before rushing past Dr. Ooblek and Ruby.

Ruby's eyes opened wide as saucers before she gave off such a loud squeal it drowned out even the train.

"Please do not make that sound again," Ooblek said as Yang caught up with him and Ruby.

"OmigoshYangitsMrSwordHunter!" Ruby said.

Yang sighed. "Yes Ruby, it's the Sword Hunter."

Ruby gave off the squeal again, this time while wriggling. And then she was running down the train after her favorite video game character.

He was fast, almost to the train's engine when Yang saw another of those red and black vortexes open up in front of him. He came to a stumbling halt, and an instant later a woman in a black and red dress and a corvid Grimm mask sprinted out of the portal and charged the Sword Hunter. She drew a purple blade and attacked the Sword Hunter's weapon so quickly her arms were a blur.

Yang's eyes widened and she froze where she stood, she knew that dress, and she knew that sword and sheath.

"_Mom!?"_ Yang's whisper was drowned out by the squeal of tortured metal as the Sword Hunter, who had previously been swinging the stone slab as if it were a regular sized sword, fell to his knees as the weapon sunk into and through the train's ceiling.

"No! Mr. Sword Hunter!" Ruby screamed and rushed forward with her Semblance.

The woman performed a picture perfect flash kick that caught the Sword Hunter straight on the chin, sending him staggering back, before tackling him full in the stomach and knocking him off his feet. Another portal appeared on the train ceiling before they could crash into it and they fell through, the portal closed the very next instant.

Ruby arrived as it closed, sank to her knees, raised her tiny fists to the tunnel ceiling and screamed. "Nooooooooooooooooo!"

"While that is certainly distressing." Oobleck said as he stopped next to Yang, "The fact remains that the young man's intervention has cleared our way so we should be able to make our way to the control room. Follow along now!"

Oobleck put action to word and ran to the very front of the train, Yang and Weiss picking the disconsolate Ruby along the way. Once in the train's control room they all looked at the machinery and buttons.

So many buttons…

"A distressing thought occurs," Oobleck said while taking a sip from his thermos. "Does anyone here know how to operate a train?"

The members of team RWBY looked at each other, then back to their teacher, and they all hurriedly pulled out their scrolls.

The train crashed while they were still frantically moogleing.

=][=

"You have to send me back!" Shirou shouted into Raven's mask, shaking from head to foot in what she'd have called fury on anyone else.

"I already told you no!" Raven shouted back, tearing off her corvid mask and barely resisting the urge to fling it to the sand.

"Umm, Shirou? Raven?" Vernal asked tentatively.

""**What!""** the two of them roared in unison, causing the young woman to jump.

"Never mind!" Vernal said and slinked back.

"I told you already!" Raven growled into his face. "You were only there to bail Yang out! She must still be allowed to grow strong on her own! She'll never grow as a warrior if you today about solving all her problems for her!"

"This isn't about Yang!" Shirou shouted back, she could see a muscle in his neck twitching violently as he glared at her. "They had a professor with them! Fighting the White Fang and Torchwick! I don't know what threat they were there to face but it's clearly more than a simple schoolyard scrap! They had _powered armor!_ This affects more than just Yang!"

"Well who cares!" Raven screamed back, fighting down the urge to beat some sense into her idiot kid. "It doesn't affect our turf! Whatever it is it'll stay in Vale!"

"_It affects everyone in Vale!"_ he screamed, his arms hovering over her shoulders for a moment before he visibly forced them back to his sides.

"I'm not sending you back and that's final!" Raven shouted back. "I've let you run around saving towns but Vale is a _city!_ It can take care of itself!"

"_Train! Full! Of! Power! Armor!"_ he screeched, emphasizing each single word. "This is more than your average cop can damn well deal with! But **I** can! Send me back! If that train crashes it might make a breach for Grimm to flood into the city!"

"All the more reason not to send you there!" Raven roared back. "There's hundreds of people with scrolls in Vale! It's bad enough that _Yang_ saw me take you away! I've told you a thousand times! You are _my_ secret weapon and you go where _I_ send you! And I'm not sending you to Vale!"

She'd had enough, she'd give her bundle of stupid time to cool down before either of them said something they'd both regret. She activated her Semblance. "Help Vernal with this whole crab situation and then send me a message, I'll make a portal for you to get home once you've had some time to cool off."

She turned her back on him and took one step toward her portal before she felt him tackle her from behind, one of his arms came to rest gently around her waist, the other around her shoulders as he held her close to his chest, she felt him bury his face into her shoulder like he used to do when he was a child.

"Please Raven," he muttered, the open pleading in his voice catching her by surprise. His entire body was trembling from head to foot as if he were freezing. "_Please_ send me back, I beg you. I can't just stand idly by. _Please._"

Well this was just not fair. She scratched her temple in frustration. Sending him to Vale so soon after Yang saw her was a terrible idea, which is why she was most certainly not going t-

"_Please Raven."_ he muttered, his voice an open wound.

"Grah! Fine! Fucking fine just get off me!" she growled.

His hug tightened. Stupid Shirou forever incapable of following orders.

"_Thank you."_ he whispered, and the sheer relief in his voice stunned her. He gave her another squeeze before letting go.

She turned away from him and used her hair to shield her face from him. "Just…make sure not to talk to Yang."

"Okay."

"And remember all the warnings I've given you about Ozpin."

"Okay."

"I mean it Shirou, you can't trust _anyone_ in Vale. Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch least of all."

He nodded, his body wound like a taut spring.

She sighed and opened a portal to Yang's rough location. Shirou sprinted through the moment the portal was ready.

Raven looked at it worryingly before letting it close.

"You spoil him," Vernal admonished with a teasing grin.

"Shut up."


	12. Chapter 10

Whoo, barely made the deadline for this one.

Been pulling ten hours overtime a week for the last few weeks. It's messing with me man.

Anyways, 'nother chapter 'nother upload. Though the warning about 'probably won't make next Saturday' is gonna get repeated. It'd be safer to assume I'll be updating this story two weeks from now. I'll try for next saturday but I'm not sure about it actually happening.

Now. Bit of an apology. I figured that people would just understand. No. Amber the Maiden is not alive and running around. I needed a color-related name, and I happen to really like the name "Amber." I mean, come on people! Do you _seriously_ think that Amber the _Maiden_ could be intimidated by a two-bit thug like Shady? No she wouldn't be, she'd bitch-slap him through a few trees and be on her merry way.

I figured that between her being afraid of Shady and Cinder's plot going on unimpeded, people would just figure out that this is a different Amber. I mean come on, I personally have met at least four Ambers and _we_ don't deal with that 'name your kid after a color' thing! I bet there's at least a couple thousand Ambers walking around Remnant!

So yeah. It was just a random village woman whose name is Amber. Had Shirou saved Amber from Cinder I would have put that in the Intermission.

He was probably busy killing Grimm at the time that was happening.

Now that all three of you who read my Author's Notes have had that particular misunderstanding cleared up.

Kudos to KeeltheSwift for betaing. He's done a lot to clean up the mess that is my punctuation. And even helped me make several of the scenes here better. We don't see eye to eye on everything. But the guy's a pretty great beta, so kudos to him. Is thanks to that guy that you lot are getting a better chapter.

That said, this _does_ slow down production as it were. So yeah, probably bi-weekly from now on if I can manage it. Not gonna make promises, cause holidays are happening.

As always, if you liked the chapter. Drop me a review and let me know why. Plz, pretty please even, with a cherry on top. And sprinkles.

If you disliked the chapter, let me know why in a review.

Also. I don't usually do this. But really Guest reviewer who said I'd abandoned you cause I didn't post the chapter earlier? _Really?_ Read the Author's Notes! They're informative! °Д°

That said. Merry Christmas to all of you monsters. And happy new years if I can't get another chapter out by next saturday! (￣▽￣)

=][=

If anyone had asked her, Ruby Rose would have said that crawling her way out of a wrecked train and assorted rubble sounded like the capstone to some great adventure, usually right before you had to battle some super strong final ultra-badguy to a great rock soundtrack. That's what books, games and movies had trained her to expect.

None of them had gone into the dust, sweat and pain any of those activities entailed. Also, she couldn't help but think that fighting a _singular_ ultra-baddie sounded much better than an unending horde of Grimm that kept pouring out of the breach in the tunnel.

Oh right, that was a thing.

She fired Crescent Rose behind her, riding the recoil to propel herself around the plaza her team had exited to, she changed the angle of her sniper scythe, pulled the trigger again, and rotated her body to cleave the blade through three Beowolves before her baby got stuck in a fourth.

She pulled the trigger again and the Grimm was shorn in two and exploded into a shower of black guts and steaming entrails as she brandished Crescent Rose and cleaved through another Grimm.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw her sister systematically punch the heads off a pack of Beowolves, Weiss brought forth a glyph that spat out a veritable blizzard of razor sharp icicles as Blake danced through the Grimm, felling one after another with her blade pistol and its cleaver-sheathe.

Yet for each one they killed, ten more seemed to swarm out of the breach. For a moment the tide ebbed, and she had an instant of hope that the Grimm had run out. Only for a Deathstalker to explode out of the breach, smashing it open further and allowing even more Grimm to vomit out.

Ruby charged forward with her best warcry. She'd tried the whole 'silent and super cool deadly except when shooting swords' that Mr. Sword Hunter did, but it just never worked out. She rotated her body, adding as much momentum to her swing as she could, only to feel an impact travel up her arms as her baby was stopped cold.

A Beowolf alpha had ducked in and put its filthy paws on her baby! It dared!?

She felt it begin to try and pull her weapon away from her and smirked. She set her feet, swung her hips, and pulled the trigger. Crescent Rose roared and something behind the Alpha died a messy death, her baby's massive recoil caused it to stumble forward a few steps, but its grip did not relent. Seeing as to she had been expecting to cut it in half, this was bad.

So she let go of her baby with one hand, pulled Crescent Rose's baby sister with her left and shot a solid slug as big as both her thumbs put side by side through the Alpha's head, scattering whatever passed for its brains all over its friends.

Ruby fired twice more, blowing fist-sized holes through the chests of several more Beowolves and using the recoil to regain some room to breathe.

A massive black and white claw closed around her an instant before her feet touched the ground, the claw tightened and crushed the air out her.

Somehow she had completely forgotten about the Deathstalker. If she had the breath, she'd say something like "Uh oh…"

"Ruby!" Yang screamed and tried to push her way towards her, but the Grimm piled forward, willing to die by the dozen to buy the Deathstalker the time it needed to kill its prey.

But this was fine! Ruby had been in much this same situation before and she got away from it! What was it she did that time again?

Oh right, Weiss had swooped in and blocked the Deathstalker's deadly sting with a glyph-conjured ice wall! She turned her head to look at her partner. Who was currently wrestling with a Beowolf as it tried to bite her face off while Blake held off the horde that was trying to pile into the heiress in her moment of vulnerability.

Which meant that they wouldn't be coming to the rescue any time soon, hmm not good. She was hanging onto Crescent Rose by the tips of her fingers, so her baby was of no help. Ruby tried to shift Rosethorn to shoot the claw, but her left arm was trapped by the Deathstalker's grip, and if she pulled Rosethorn's trigger the only thing she'd achieve would be to lose her weapon. Shifting it to its short sword configuration achieved nothing useful…hrm quite the conundrum.

She felt a warm, fetid air waft around her head and looked over her shoulder to see the…head? Face? Mandibles?

The mandibles of the Deathstalker.

"Hehe," she said cringing. "Nice…umm…big…ugly, murserizer scorpion thing?"

Its eyes flashed red and its golden stinger whipped forward as she heard Yang shout her name.

Ruby had always sworn to herself that if she ever died, her final words would be something cool and profound, maybe even a bit poetic.

"Save me Mr. Sword Hunter!" she babbled instead, closing her eyes and doing her best to ignore the sound of something pointy and sharp stabbing thought something meaty. The claw that held her snapped open and she felt herself fall slowly to the floor held by something firm and warm.

Huh, she'd have expected dying to hurt a lot more, also something about feeling like floating through clouds? If so her dying mind's idea of a cloud was actually surprisingly firm and kind of muscle-y…though not in an uncomfortable way.

The multitude of meaty thunks followed by a screech of pain were also a big surprise.

She opened one eye to peek around, then both her eyes opened wide as saucers.

"Mr. Sword Hunter!" She cried and let go of her weapons so she could throw her arms around his neck, causing him to choke and stumble back a couple of steps. The sounds of Grimm dying around her continued, and she tightened her grip. This time! For sure! He would not get away without giving her his autograph!

"Trace bullet," he said, she felt his voice vibrating out of his chest and neck, it felt kind of weird, though not in an unpleasant way, wait, she remembered this! He was doing the thing! She pulled away from his neck and looked up.

The air above her was alight with blue sparks that quickly morphed into swords. Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of swords. She'd stretch a hand out to them but then he might get away again. She felt him take a deep breath.

"Ceaseless targeted barrage, Gatling fire!" he roared and the swords began to slam forward, she craned her neck to look, she couldn't stop herself. Some Grimm died as a single sword impaled them to the concrete, others died as seven or more stabbed into them, some died in droves as a single sword carved through groups of them. The sound of steel tearing through flesh almost enough to drown out the roar of the swords' travel.

Ruby saw a veritable wall of swords descend on the Grimm that surrounded her team, annihilating the Grimm yet leaving her team intact. An Ursa Major roared and began to make its way to them, what swords did not bounce off its bony carapace were ignored as it advanced slowly and steadily toward them, moving as if fighting a powerful wind.

And yet, more and more Grimm vomited out of the breach in the tunnel.

"Ruby, I need my hands," Mr. Sword Hunter chided her gently.

Ruby blinked, and for the first time realized he was carrying her like a princess. And she'd thrown her arms around him.

Her face started feeling rather hot, she hopped off and futilely wiped some of the dust from her skirt.

"S-Sorry," she said, kicking herself for stammering.

"It's fine," he said as the Mistralean falchions he'd started favoring a few years back appeared on his hands. "I'll stop the Grimm from coming out of the hole, I need you to clear out the Grimm in the plaza."

Ruby puffed out her chest with pride and gave him her best salute. "Yes sir! Mr. Sword Hunter sir!"

His hood tilted slightly to the side before he nodded at her and dashed toward the breach, he dodged to the side as the Ursa Major swiped at him and stabbed both swords to the hilt into its eyes, before violently tearing the weapons out, destroying the Grimm's head in the process.

"Sooooo coooooool!" Ruby gushed as he pointed his swords at the breach. The rain of weapons intensified and focused on the hole, Grimm of all shapes and sizes dying as they tried to gain entry to the city.

She could see the lines that always appeared on his arms when he used his Semblance, going from a bright green, to yellow, to blue, to a blinding white that seemed to burn through his clothes.

She shook her head. Mr. Sword Hunter had given her a job! She whistled the 'Group up!' signal she'd worked out with her team, picked up her babies and made her way forward. It wasn't as simple as merely trotting however, each of them had to fight her way through a morass of Grimm in order to come together.

"So _Mr. Sword Hunter_ decided to come back!?" Weiss asked snidely as she summoned a glyph that created a gust of wind that drove the Grimm back.

"Yes! Isn't it awesome!? We get to fight beside Mr. Sword Hunter!" Ruby answered excitedly. "He's tasked us with clear out the Grimm in the plaza!"

"Easier said than done," Blake panted. "There's so many of them!"

Strangely enough, Yang didn't say anything, she merely looked in the direction of Mr. Sword Hunter, looking troubled.

Ruby looked around the plaza, a ring of Grimm had formed around Mr. Sword Hunter, all of them seemingly afraid of coming close to him as he killed their kin in the tunnel.

A lot of Grimm were prowling around Weiss' wind wall, and even more were sprinting out toward the streets.

"We need to fight our way to the main avenue!" Ruby said. "Bottle them up in here!"

Right as she said that, a bullhead roared by and she saw another team drop right on the location she'd instructed her team to fight to. A flash of red and green and a pink explosion informed her that team JNPR had just arrived. And they were holding the main exit.

Great! Jaune would also get Mr. Sword Hunter's autograph! He'd be green with envy when she told him that she'd been saved by their shared idol.

"Change of plans!" she screamed to be heard over the din. "Weiss you're with me! Yang and Blake you're together! Weiss speed Blake up, Blake use that Aura shockwave thing you do! We need to start using AOEs! We'll meet up with JNPR then fight our way to the breach! Ready!? Go go go!"

Her team dispersed, following her instructions quickly and efficiently. Weiss sped Blake up before screaming and stabbing the ground, a rolling wave of icicles erupting out of the ground and stabbing through a number of Beowolves.

Ruby spun Crescent Rose around herself, gutting and dismembering Grimm, leaving them to Weiss to finish off with a pinpoint stab to their brain.

By the time they met up with JNPR, the plaza was nearly empty.

Jaune and Pyrrha harried an Ursa Major, distracting it so Nora could smash its head with Magnhild. Where a lesser Grimm would have been pancaked, the Ursa Major was merely stunned by the attack. This allowed Jaune and Ren the time to slip behind it and drive his sword through the Grimm's hamstrings, causing it to fall.

Pyrrha used her team leader's shoulder as a platform to jump off of, turned her sword into a spear, and drove its point with her whole weight behind it into the base of the Ursa Major's skull. She then twisted, shifted it to its rifle form, and fired off five rounds to server the Grimm's spine.

"Hey Ruby!" Jaune called out. "We're not too late ar-"

Ruby was able to see the exact moment he caught sight of Mr. Sword Hunter, because his eyes went wide and he squeaked.

"Yes!" Ruby said. "He is!"

Jaune gurgled.

"Maybe! I'll certainly ask him for his autograph!" Ruby answered with a smile. "Come on, let's go!"

She put action to words and left her fellow team leader behind. Looking over her shoulder, she saw him stare in awe, not reacting to Pyrrha as she waved a hand in front of his eyes. Jaune didn't wake to until Nora slapped him on the back, almost sending him face first to the floor. Then team JNPR raced after her team.

Between the eight of them, they made short work of the rest of the Grimm, then made their way to Mr. Sword Hunter at the breach.

He stood there, back straight and proud and breathing heavily as his arms trembled with effort. One of the heads of a King Taijitu slithered out of the breach with a hiss, ignoring the weapons stabbing themselves into its flesh.

"Intensify barrage!" Mr. Sword Hunter shouted, and impossibly, the number of swords he was shooting increased, the Taijitu hissed and coiled in on itself as countless swords broke on its hide.

The huge stone sword he'd used in the train materialized above him and shot forward, stabbing itself entirely through the Grimm's head, leaving the huge Grimm pinned to the wall of the building behind the breach, it coiled and uncoiled as it tried in vain to free itself.

"Soooooo coooooool." She heard Jaune whisper in awe.

"I know right!?" Ruby said.

Mr. Sword Hunter raised his right hand, and with a blue shimmer a beautiful if simple sword materialized on his hand. It had black leather on its grip and a gem that glowed with a soft white light in its pommel.

He brought the sword in front of his face and rested his forehead against it.

"By the Justice of the Lord this weapon shall banish all evil." He intoned. "By the Wrath of the Lord this weapon shall immolate all that is unholy."

"Is…is he _praying?"_ Weiss asked, and Ruby blinked. She'd never considered that Mr. Sword Hunter might be religious.

"By the Mercy of the Lord this weapon shall not harm the righteous." He said, and a light began to emanate from in front of him. He raised the sword high, its blade glowing with a muted white shimmer. "Cleanse and Purify! Durandal!"

He reversed his grip on the sword and launched it into the breach. He turned his back on it and faced them as the other head of the King Taijitu exploded out of the concrete behind him.

"Close your eyes." He said, barely audible over the sound of the dying Grimm and the hissing greater Grimm.

Ruby immediately screwed her eyes tightly shut and covered them with her hands.

"Why!?" Weiss demanded. Silly Weiss.

There was a flash of light so strong it felt like it seared her eyes even through her hands. Going by the shouting, only Jaune and Pyrrha had followed Mr. Sword Hunter's instructions. She slowly opened her eyes and peeked around, wondering if it was safe.

"Oh Brothers, it's like walking in on Dove in the shower!" Nora screamed as she wriggled on the ground.

"Nora!" Ren growled.

"What!?"

"When did you walk in on Dove!?"

"Figure of speech!"

"Ruby!" Yang called. "Quickly! Glomp him and don't let him get away! I need to ask him something!"

Well those were instructions she was more than happy to follow! She turned to do just that but saw something in the tunnel glitter, so she did the only reasonable thing there was to do and zipped to the edge to look in. In the tunnel she beheld a veritable forest of razor sharp steel.

There were so many swords! Some were beautiful works of art as much as weapons, others were rusty and dilapidated. She caught a glimpse of far away movement, and squinting could barely make out Grimm trying to push their way forward getting torn to shreds on the razor sharp steel that covered every surface of the tunnel.

"Um! I-I'm sorry!?" Ruby heard Pyrrha's panicked squeak behind her. She turned to look, and saw Mr. Sword Hunter gently cupping her cheeks and leaning close to her face while Jaune gaped.

Ruby's brain froze. Did that mean Mr. Sword Hunter liked redheads? Ruby's hair was red…ish, on the tips. Kinda.

Pyrrha's face was bright red as Mr. Sword Hunter leaned even closer.

"You're a lot like her." Mr. Sword Hunter said, tilting his head a little.

"E-E-Excuse me?" Pyrrha stuttered, her voice higher pitched than usual.

"The green-eyed girl," Mr. Sword Hunter muttered. "You're a lot like her…but you're not her."

He let go of Pyrrha and stepped back with a sigh. The look on Jaune's face was…complicated.

Mr. Sword Hunter stiffened, wait, was he about to run away again? Unacceptable! Ruby needed to get his autograph!

She got ready to rush him until she saw him tossing aside a dissipating Grimm corpse, revealing the gutted body of a young woman. Ruby blinked and looked around, and brought a hand up to her mouth, it was a good thing her stomach was empty as it started to heave.

In the middle of all the fighting and the Grimm, she had been unable to see the unfortunate people who where in the plaza when the Grimm flooded in. She turned away, unable to make herself count the dead. And saw Mr. Sword Hunter moving from corpse to corpse, looking into the eyes of dead girls in the plaza.

He'd crouch and pull open their eyes, those that still _had_ eyes anyways, look into them, give a little sigh and move on to the next. Just what was he doing? He shifted some rubble and she saw a ropey red mass slither out, this time she did lose her battle against her stomach and turned away before she could start heaving.

Jaune and Pyrrha both looked a little green and were staring hard at the ground, their lips pressed strongly together.

"Figures we'd be too late," Jaune muttered.

"Jaune…we got here as fast as we could." Pyrrha said, giving his shoulder a squeeze.

Ruby bit her lower lip, none of this would have happened had her team been able to stop the train.

"Ruby." She instinctively turned her head when Mr. Sword Hunter called her name, and he tossed something at her in a lazy parabola. She caught it reflexively and looked down. It was a small wooden knife, the handle just long enough to fit comfortably in her palm, the length of the blade was about half of her forearm. The wood was polished smooth and the carving was competent though not something she'd call artistic or masterful, it was a simple toy. Why would he toss her…a…

Her eyes widened.

"Magic knife!" she squealed, hugging the wooden toy tightly to her chest. She took a moment to look up, and thoroughly enjoyed the look of envy on Jaune's face.

"Okay," Yang said. Squinting and blinking as she slowly got to her feet. "I can sort of see again, now where's the frigging Sword Hunter?"

Before Ruby could answer, a Bullhead roared overhead, team CVFY(Coffee) jumped out of it and landed in the middle of the plaza. Ms. Goodwitch landed softly in front of them a moment later.

Mr. Sword Hunter stopped, his whole body taut as a spring as Ms. Goodwitch walked forward with team CVFY at her heels.

She made her way to the breach and peered into it, then looked over her shoulder at Mr. Sword Hunter. "Your doing, I take it?"

He nodded.

"Then please be rid of them, I need to fix this." Ms. Goodwitch asked with the snap of a demand.

A moment later a flurry of soft golden motes drifted out of the tunnel. Ms. Goodwitch proceeded to use her Semblance to shift rubble about.

"So uhh…" Ruby blinked and saw Velvet of all people had walked close to Mr. Sword Hunter, scratching her cheek as she spoke with him. Her rabbit ears twitching atop her head. "Hi, bit of a fan, I'd like to get a few pictures if possible. But uhh, sorry if this is too forward but I've always wanted to know, when you do the sword rain…whenever you do it…umm…why do you shout? It's almost like you're shouting an attack name."

"Because," Mr. Sword Hunter said calmly. "it's cooler that way."

Ruby grinned. Totally called it.

"Because…it's cooler?" Velvet asked.

"_Yes," _Mr. Sword Hunter deadpanned.

"_That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" _Weiss screeched.

"Well, you dance around any time you use your glyphs," Blake noted.

"That's a mnemonic device to aid me in utilizing my Semblance!" Weiss said, blushing furiously.

"That sounds pretty good, I'm gonna say that from now on," Mr. Sword Hunter said with a nod, making Weiss stare at him with her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.

Ruby giggled.

Ms. Goodwitch cleared her throat, bringing everyone's attention to her, in the short time Ruby had not been paying attention, Ms. Goodwitch had sealed the breach in the tunnel. "Enough playing around, children.

"You…young man," she said, turning to look at Mr. Sword Hunter and giving him a nod of thanks. "I see we have you to thank for helping minimize the damage this breach caused. For that you have the thanks of all of Vale. Would you do me the honor of accompanying me? There is someone who would very much like to speak with you."

Mr. Sword Hunter stared intently at Ms. Goodwitch so long that even she started to get uncomfortable. Wait, she said someone wanted to talk to him.

Was the headmaster thinking of offering Mr. Sword Hunter tuition? That sounded amazing! Maybe Ruby could get him on her team!? Yes, she'd defer to his greater knowledge of leadership of course, but the chance to learn from him directly would be awesome!

And to get a look at all of his swords! This was gonna be great!

Wait, thinking about it, wouldn't it make more sense for Mr. Sword Hunter to be a teacher? Hmm, not as cool, but he was bound to be better than Professor Port.

Mr. Sword Hunter gave a little disappointed sigh as his shoulders slumped.

"You're a lot like her too," he said quietly. "But not her."

"Pardon?" asked Ms. Goodwitch as she arched an eyebrow.

He looked around at CVFY, at JNPR, and finally at Ruby's own team before turning back to Ms. Goodwitch. "I'll be leaving now."

Ms. Goodwitch stepped forward and spoke before Ruby could panic and ask for his autograph. "Please wait, we'd like to compensate you for your help."

Mr. Sword Hunter shook his head. "I don't need a reward."

"Then at least-"

"Good day, Ms. Goodwitch." He said, turning away.

"Stop!" Ms. Goodwitch commanded, her gaze sharpening as Mr. Sword Hunter turned back to look at her. "Please, I only need an hour of your time. There is someone you _must_ speak with."

Ruby watched the exchange as her heart thudded loudly in her chest. Mr. Sword Hunter sighed and slumped.

"Fine," he said, and Ms. Goodwitch's shoulders relaxed slightly.

"We'll do this the hard way," he continued and took off running before anyone could react.

Ms. Goodwitch looked after him with her face showing open shock for the first time Ruby could remember. And then Ruby realized Mr. Sword Hunter was getting away, again.

"Wait!" Ruby and Jaune said at the same time as they started to sprint after him. "Please give me your autograph!"


	13. Chapter 11

'Nother Saturday 'nother upload.

Again. I don't usually do this. But Guest Reviewer that wrote a review being the Obi-Wan to my Darth Vader? You made me snort some water up my nose. I hope you're happy. Made my day.

Reminder once more, check yer PMs people. I responded to a good number of reviews and I'm fairly certain FFN is not doing alerts for PMs. There's the chance I've responded and ya haven't seen it.

In other news. Kinda surprised it took this long for someone to call me out on the Stockholm Syndrome. I actually had a surprisingly long talk with a buddy of mine debating whether or not Shirou even _could_ be affected by Stockholm Syndrome. The consensus we reached can best be described as. "Eeeeeh...sorta? Ish?"

Made for interesting writing.

But then again. This is a story about Raven fragging Branwen learning to mom. It was gonna get worse before it got better. More on that on an Author's Note at the bottom.

See there's more stuff I wanna say, but it's kind of a spoiler for the chapter itself?

Speaking of spoilers. Kudos to whoever gets the cultural reference! Think classics.

Oh also. Turns out I won first place for the contest! Yey!

I have no idea what I want drawn as a reward! Seriously It's been killing me! Argh!

I'm open to suggestions. Lemme know whatcha think via Review or PM? Yey.

Oh right almost forgot. I'm officially switching to a bi-weekly update schedule. Thanks to the December work rush I frankly didn't have time to write and ended up catching up fully to everything I had written. So I'm switching to bi-weekly to make sure I can write these up to mine own preferred standards. So expect an update two weeks from now.

Unless something happens. I've had a few months without a significant tragedy, so it's getting to be about that time frankly speaking. I'm waiting for the other damn shoe to drop.

But yer not here to read about my troubles.

Fair warning. Author's Note at the bottom.

Ultra kudos to KeeltheSwift for betaing. Seriously you lot, he's making this a lot better. I kids ya not.

Silent Snippet Bomb. ( ꒪,꒪)

=][=

"After him!" Professor Goodwitch snapped. "Engage only to delay!"

Blake and the rest of teams RWBY and JNPR took off running after their respective team leaders, team CVFY hot on their heels.

She couldn't help but wonder why he'd started running though. Professor Goodwitch had said she just needed to talk to him. Could some of those rumors that always drove Ruby up a wall be true? That the Sword Hunter never came forward to work for one of the Kingdoms because he was hiding something?

Following his escape route was made much easier by the trail of rose petals that Ruby had left behind. Yang roared and shot her gauntlets behind herself, riding the recoil to run faster. Not to be outdone, Weiss made a line of blue glyphs to skate across and Blake hitched a ride on her coattails.

Blake looked over her shoulder and saw Ren hitching a ride on Nora's hammer as she rode its explosion, Nora was…unusually grim-faced as she rode Magnhild, the two leaving Pyrrha, CVFY, and Professor Goodwitch behind as they kept up with RWBY.

It wasn't long before they sped past Jaune who redoubled his efforts as he saw them all slide past him. The trail of rose petals wound back and forth into alleyways and at times seemed to disappear, only to continue along rooftops before falling back to the streets. They were lucky that people were still in shelters or had evacuated, otherwise the chase would have been complicated immensely.

The trail led them to a plaza with a fountain in the center where they were treated to the sight of Ruby hugging her idol's back quite tightly while digging her heels hard into the ground, with the significantly taller and heavier man trying at once to run despite Ruby's interference, and ineffectually trying to push her off.

He froze as the rest of team RWBY spread out in a semi-circle in front of him. A few moments later Nora crashed into the scene, Ren landing with a roll a few moments later.

His hood turned toward them, gazing from one to the next. Blake swallowed, unsure of what to say, or how to go about saying it.

"Just! Give! Me! Your! Autograaaaaaaph!" Ruby said, punctuating each word with a tug, unaware of the fact that her idol was no longer trying to move.

Weiss cleared her throat, causing Ruby to jerk and look over her shoulder at her partner, she did not however, let go. "Mr…Uhh…I mean yo-"

Ruby glared.

Weiss sighed, when next she spoke the words sounded like it physically hurt her to say them. "Mister…Sword Hunter…Ahem! We would like to politely request your coopera-aah!"

Weiss fell to the ground and skidded along it after Yang shoved her aside, her hair shifting in a nonexistent breeze as it gave off a slight golden glow. "Sword Hunter…I need to talk to you."

The Sword Hunter did not answer, his hood turning away from Yang to survey Weiss as she got painfully to her feet.

Yang's Semblance flared, Blake felt a physical heat wash over her as Yang's hands curled into fists. "Look at me when I talk to you!"

Slowly, the Sword Hunter's hood turned back to face Yang, though Blake felt that he was staring at the floor rather than at her partner.

"The woman." Yang stopped and swallowed thickly, the light of her Semblance fading slightly. When she continued, the tremble in her voice was absent. "The woman from the train, the one that fought you at the end. What…what is your connection to her? Where is she? Why was she there?"

The Sword Hunter remained silent. Out of the corner of her eye, Blake saw Ren slowly shifting his machine pistols.

"Yang," Ruby whispered, her eyes large and dewy.

"Answer me!" Yang roared, her hair bursting into golden flame. "Where is she!? Why did she fight you!? Why did she take you away!? _What is your connection to her!?"_

The Sword Hunter sighed and took a deep breath as his hood tilted up, his eyes seemed to shine from the darkness of his hood as they reflected the light of Yang's Semblance. "Yang…why do you have one sock correct and the other all scrunched up?"

"Eh?" Yang said, looking down at her legs.

The Sword Hunter took that moment to pick Ruby up by the waist with one arm, the lines that always appeared on his body when he used his Semblance began to shine a frosty blue, and he kicked off the ground so hard the pavement cracked as he started running again.

And almost ran right into Ren as the latter raised Storm Flower. A pair of rapiers materialized _inside_ the barrels of both machine pistols. Ren dropped the weapons and shot forward and him and the Sword Hunter exchanged a flurry of kicks before Ren was sent flying back and bounced off the nearest wall.

Everyone else exploded into motion.

Nora rushed to Ren's side, calling her partner's name. Yang roared and rocketed forward as Ruby held her hands up and yelled at everyone to wait. Weiss began twirling around as glyphs appeared around her, and Blake jumped to the side and looked a good flanking position.

The Sword Hunter shifted his stance to put his body between Yang and Ruby as the former unleashed a punishing combo, dodging each attack by the barest margin as the blonde shrieked in anger. Swords began to materialize above him and shot themselves toward Weiss, intercepting and annihilating a flurry of icicles almost as soon as her Glyphs summoned them.

"Yang! Yang stop!" Ruby implored, causing Yang to, if anything, attack faster.

"If! You! Won't! Talk!" Yang growled, spitting each word out in between an attack. "Then! I'll! Make! You! Talk!"

Blake crouched behind a park bench, drew Gambol Shroud and shifted it to its pistol configuration. She watched as Weiss summoned more icy projectiles, only for them to be destroyed instants after they were completed.

At the same time the Sword Hunter used a white sword to deflect any of Yang's attacks he didn't dodge as he slowly retreated toward an alleyway.

Ren got back up and retrieved Storm Flower, then began to try and remove the rapiers shoved into the barrels.

Blake threw her weapon to a nearby rooftop and used the ribbon to climb to the top. From her higher vantage she saw Weiss abandon her futile barrage, shout a battle cry and rush the Sword Hunter.

She ducked under the white sword that the Sword Hunter threw at her, waited for Yang's wild swings to make an opening and stabbed at his face with Myrtenaster.

The black sword appeared in his hand and deflected her attack, he dodged the second and third before batting away Ember Celica. His arm moving in a blur as he defended against Yang and Weiss' combined onslaught.

"Guys!" Ruby called, making no attempt to escape her idol's grip around her waist. "Stop! Why are you fighting!? He's the good guy!"

"Shut up Ruby!" Yang screamed.

Blake readied herself to join her team when she saw a flying white buzzsaw out of the corner of her eye, she brought Gambol Shroud up and shot the white sword out of the air instants before it could slam into Weiss' back. The heiress flinched and looked over her shoulder. The Sword Hunter capitalized on that momentary distraction to weave past Yang's fist and slam a kick into the heiress' midsection, sending her tumbling back.

With their formation broken, the Sword Hunter went into the offensive, attacking in a flurry that overwhelmed Yang. Blake threw herself off the roof, aiming a kick at the back of his head, ignoring Ruby's frantic waves.

Ren rushing in and tackling the Sword Hunter thoroughly ruined her perfect kick. Blake landed, rolling to disperse her momentum as Yang regained her footing and the two of them rushed the Sword Hunter as he exchanged blows with Ren.

He finally let go of Ruby, who landed lithely on all fours and sprang back to her feet. The white sword appeared in his left hand an instant before Yang and Blake reached him. Blake attacked with all she had, using Gambol Shroud and its cleaver sheath as Yang threw a flurry of blows and Ren attacked with the blades of Storm Flower.

The Sword Hunter's blades sung as they cut through the air, the ring of steel striking steel overwhelming Blake's senses as herself, Yang, and Ren all threw all they had at the Sword Hunter and managed to do nothing more than push him back. It wasn't until Weiss joined them that some of their attacks started to slip through his guard.

He'd dodge Ember Celica, swat aside Storm Flower and Myrtenaster and dodge Blake's Cleaver Sheath, only for Gambol Shroud to get a small cut along his ribs.

Myrtenaster was parried over his head as he bent almost double to avoid a blast of Ember Celica, throwing himself into a roll to avoid Gambol Shroud only for Storm Flower to unleash a storm of bullets that struck his chest and pinged off his armor.

A dozen little cuts marred his hood, pants, and jacket. And then Magnhild caught their opponent full on the side and sent him skidding along the ground until he slammed against the fountain with a choked gasp and slumped to the floor.

Yang fired Ember Celica behind herself to rocket forward, and came to a skidding halt when Ruby materialized in front of the Sword Hunter in a burst of rose petals, her arms splayed wide and tears running down her face.

"Stop!" Ruby pleaded. "He's our hero Yang! We owe him our lives! _The people of Vale _owe him their lives! Or did you forget that!? Why are you fighting!?"

Yang swallowed thickly, looking at the floor in shame. "Ruby! I…I mean he…it's just…"

"Miss Goodwitch said to apprehend him!" Weiss said with a twirl of Myrtenaster. "You should not be protecting this…vigilante!"

Ruby's teary-eyed glare turned to Weiss, who flinched. "He's a hero, Weiss! He's _my_ hero! Don't any of you realize how _nice_ he is being!? How forgiving he is!?"

"Forgiving?" Blake asked, and felt her ears twitch when Ruby's glare was turned upon her.

"He hasn't used his Semblance against any of you! Even though you are attacking him! _After he helped us! _If I'd known that you would do this I wouldn't have slowed him down!"

The Sword Hunter coughed and twitched, pushing himself to his hands and knees. Ruby tensed but did not turn around.

Blake saw Ren open his mouth and step forward, only for Nora to grab hold of his arm. Blake blinked, Nora was…crying?

Ren closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He seemed to deflate as he let it out and said, "I'm…I'm sorry."

"Sorry doesn't cut it!" Ruby screamed.

"No, it's fine," groaned the Sword Hunter as he pushed himself slowly to his feet. "No harm done, right?"

"Mr. Sword Hunter!" Ruby said, rushing to his side and helping him to his feet.

He wobbled in place, hunching around his left side and softly ruffled Ruby's hair, when he spoke his tone was gentle. "No need to cry Ruby, I'm sure it was a misunderstanding."

"Well," Weiss said, crossing her arms. "You're still going to be detained by us so Professor Goodwitch can talk to you."

Blake wondered about that. How badly did he want to avoid talking to Miss Goodwitch? Did they even have anything that could counter his Semblance if he stopped holding back? And what about that really bright light that killed all those Grimm? That had _hurt._

Then again, she probably should have heeded his order to close her eyes.

"No, Miss Schnee," he said, stepping away from Ruby. "I don't think I will."

"W-Wait!" Yang said, the open pleading in her voice shocked Blake and made the Sword Hunter stop. "Please! Look I'm…I'm sorry I lost it? Okay? I'm sorry I attacked you. But…_please_, tell me about the woman…the one from the train, I…I beg you, I need to know!"

"Yang I…" He stared at Yang long and hard before turning his gaze back to the floor. "She…"

Whatever else he might have said was cut off as he was surrounded by a purple glow and yanked away from them. They all turned to see Miss Goodwitch standing at the entrance to the plaza, holding her riding crop out toward the Sword Hunter, who floated a few inches off the ground, ramrod straight and with his arms forced to his sides.

Jaune and Pyrrha sprinted into view a moment later, followed closely by team CVFY.

Velvet grimaced and muttered something about pictures just a little too softly for Blake to hear clearly while wearing her ribbon. Fox had a complicated expression on his face and Coco lowered her sunglasses a little to look at the Sword Hunter with a grimace. Yatsuhashi remained as hard to read as ever.

"I do apologize for this…unpleasantness," Miss Goodwitch said with a slight grimace to the Sword Hunter. "But as I said, it is imperative that you speak with Headmaster Ozpin."

The Sword Hunter looked around, Blake suspected that his head was the only thing he could move. Before turning back to look at Miss Goodwitch. "I must respectfully decline, now I will ask you politely to let me be, I need to go."

"I'm sorry to say," Miss Goodwitch said, "that this is not a request. You'll be free to go as soon as our talk is finished."

"And I already told you no," the Sword Hunter repeated with a sigh, and five curved sword blades without hilts appeared in a cluster between him and Miss Goodwitch. The colors of the blades were red, blue, yellow, purple, and white.

Blake scrunched her eyes shut and covered her ears, the last thing she saw being Miss Goodwitch's eyes widening in surprise. A moment later, there was a thunderous explosion. She could hear a muffled high pitched screech and crackling and she felt her hair trying to stand on end.

Blake opened her eyes to see a huge cloud of steam, arcs of electricity running along the ground. Miss Goodwitch stood with her knees and back bent as if crushed by a great weight. Jaune, Pyrrha, and all of team CVFY had been driven to the floor by a localized gravity well.

Miss Goodwitch looked up and met Blake's eyes and ground out, "After him! Before he gets away!"

Yang and Ren immediately took off, Ruby ran after her sister, calling for her to wait. Blake looked around, started when she spotted a strange shadow, and blinked in confusion. She took off running towards the alleyway farthest from where the Sword Hunter had been.

She closed her eyes to concentrate on her other senses. She could smell detritus, the sweet, cinnamon like smell of burnt fire Dust and…there, a hint of oil and blood. She followed the scent, the sounds of the frantic pursuit fading as everyone ran and spread out. It was a little while before it was quiet enough for her to hear a heartbeat. She stopped next to a big trash can and tried to figure out what it was she was seeing.

She was sure the Sword Hunter was there, but it was as if light refused to touch him, leaving him as a somewhat indistinct black outline among deep shadows. Were it not for her good low-light vision and being able to hear his rough location, she'd have walked right past him.

He didn't start running again, and he'd not exactly been _hostile_, for which she was starting to feel rather guilty. She'd joined Yang on instinct and hadn't even bothered to think about why she'd started that fight.

She sat on her haunches in front of the shadowy blur.

"I thought your Semblance was making and shooting swords," she said flippantly.

He remained quiet for a few moments before the shadows seemed to literally melt off of him.

"It's…a bit more versatile than that, I guess," he admitted quietly. He was pressing a hand against the place where Nora had smashed him, and she could see a few wet spots on his armor and clothing.

Odd, they'd clearly not broken his Aura as he still had enough to use his Semblance. Had he dropped it on accident? Or on purpose to save it for his Semblance? Would anyone be that reckless?

She met his eyes, surprised at how…casual his gaze was. By the amount of worry he showed, they might as well be sitting on the library talking about homework, rather than hiding while hurt because the girl he was talking to and her friends had tried to stab him numerous times.

"Why are you so adamantly refusing to meet Ozpin?" she asked.

He stared at her long and hard, considering her, or at least considering her question. She began to fidget beneath his frankly unnerving gaze when he shrugged. "Because he is not to be trusted."

Blake blinked, she wasn't sure what answer she had expected, but that had certainly not been it. "Why?"

He sighed. "Let's just say that someone he's…affected, told me what to expect. I don't have the time to deal with his schemes, I'm doing something important."

Blake frowned, she wanted to defend the Headmaster. After Blake's team and her had foiled a big robbery by Torchwick and the White Fang, he'd summoned her to his office where he'd…intimated that he'd been aware all along that she had been a terrorist for years before seeking her own redemption.

But the Sword Hunter did not seem like he would change his mind on this. So it was probably better to drop it.

"So why didn't you want to give Ruby your autograph?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I haven't practiced a signature. It would look pretty bad. Besides, I don't particularly like the title 'Sword Hunter'."

He began to push himself slowly to his feet, she stood up as well.

"Why not give her an autograph with your actual name then?" she asked.

He blinked. "You know…I never really thought of that…huh. I'll have to ask my sister about that, she's got a good head for these things."

"You have a sister?"

"I think technically I have three of them? Kind of?" he said, rubbing the back of his head through the hood.

Blake tilted her head to the side. "How do you 'technically' have sisters?"

He shrugged. "Don't live with two of them, family circumstances."

He began to walk away and she watched him go. He stopped at a corner and looked back at her, it seemed like he wanted to say something, but ultimately shook his head and walked away.

Blake stared at the spot where he had been long and hard, and with a sigh ran off to 'look' for the Sword Hunter.

=][=

Raven lay on her bed and rubbed her temples as Vernal poured coffee. Vernal's coffee was not as good as Shirou's and they both knew it, but it'd be rude to point that out. Besides, Vernal did a fairly good job with the beverage, better than adequate even.

Raven brought her hands up and covered her eyes. She'd helped Vernal with the sand-crab (or whatever-the-hells they were called) situation and made a portal back home. It still irked her that the only other link for her Semblance in the camp was Flaxen.

It was difficult not to come to care for the guy that kept patching up her swords-for-brains dumbass bundle of stupid whenever he got hurt. Which in hindsight had caused her to let that dumbass drunk get away with more crap than before. Stupid Flaxen.

She shook her head and stopped trying to distract herself. Vernal and her had, as had become their habit, started discussing the thing that most vexed them.

The afore mentioned swords-for-brains bundle of stupid and his futile crusade to find some dumbass bint with green eyes.

"It's just not healthy," Vernal muttered angrily as she finished filling two of the three cups with coffee. "He's been looking for that girl for ten years, disappointed every time. Anyone healthy would have moved on already!"

"Yeah but what can you do?" Raven asked as she wriggled her way to a more comfortable position. "You know how he gets any time we bring up the whole 'stop looking for her' subject."

"Yeah," Vernal said with a sigh. "He didn't speak to me for a whole week last time."

"To be fair," Raven said, lifting a hand and pointing at the tent ceiling. "You were shouting and you threw the wind-blade at his head."

"Yeah, and we both know what happened next so we don't need to bring that up again!" Vernal grumbled.

Raven felt her lips tug up into a smirk. The look on Vernal's face when Shirou caught her weapon and threw it back had been priceless. That in itself was weird; he usually either dodged or let it hit him somewhere covered with armor.

"It's just…vexing!" Vernal continued, judging by the thump Raven heard, her adjutant had stomped the floor. "He has every girl in the tribe throwing themselves at his feet, and a lot of the girls in the towns and villages we protect doing the same. And he ignores them all to look for this girl of his!"

That wasn't even mentioning how he got any time he actually _saw_ a girl with green eyes and it inevitably wasn't who he was looking for.

A cup was brought into her field of vision, and Raven ran a quick cost-benefit analysis of staying where she was. On the one hand, drinking would be a lot more difficult while lying prone, on the other, she'd _just_ found that magical spot of comfort that was only rarely achieved and it was usually best to milk that for all it was worth. And it wasn't even Shirou's coffee…

She sat up with a groan and took the cup with a nod of thanks.

"I mean, we could try setting him up again?" Raven asked with a grimace.

Vernal clicked her tongue in annoyance and sipped her drink. "I don't think there's a girl in the tribe we haven't tried to set him up with."

Raven blinked, there was one…well, technically two, but there was no way in any hell that Raven would try to bed her bundle of stupid. Yes he'd grown into quite the stud, but that was more of an objective observation than actually admiring his physique.

Raven looked into Vernal's eyes and raised a questioning eyebrow.

Vernal stared, frowned, then understood and her entire face got very, very red. "No, noooope. Nuh-uh. Noooooonononono."

"I mean," Raven said as she played with a lock of her hair. "You're not _that_ far apart age wise. You're, what? Seven years older than him? Ish?"

"Nooooope, we are _not_ having this conversation." Vernal said.

"Not to mention you have an advantage over pretty much every other woman he meets," Raven continued, tapping her chin in thought. "It's obvious he cares about you, I mean, other than me, he bitches the least at tuning your weapons."

"Raven," Vernal growled.

"Look! I'm just saying! He cares about you! And you care about him. He's handsome, and a stud, and you know what they say about men with big strong hands..." The redder Vernal's face got, the harder it was for Raven to keep her expression neutral.

"Raven!" Vernal said with a stomp for good measure. "I held him when he was a kid and was too scared to sleep at night! He's like the little brother I never had!"

"Well, what are your thoughts on what he looks like without his shirt on?" Raven asked and sipped her coffee.

Vernal's blush went from 'Red Dust' to 'Combustion Dust' and she covered her face with the hand that wasn't filled with a cup. "Little! Brother! I! Never! Had!"

"So you clearly have no trouble with his body," Raven continued mercilessly.

"I am leaving!" Vernal groused. "I'm going to hit that old dusty trail and vanish into the sunset!"

"And you'd _probably_ be cute together, and as I said you have the advantage that he cares about you quite a bit."

"I really am leaving Raven!"

Vernal was given a reprieve from further torture by Raven's scroll ringing. She blinked and looked down. "I don't recognize the caller I.D., weird."

She cut the call without a second thought and turned back to Vernal. "Now, Shirou _does_ tend to get flustered around 'girly' girls so you're at a bit of a disadvantage there."

"Raven!" Vernal shrieked.

Raven took a gulp of her drink. "But he also seems to admire girls that can break someone's arm in a few hundred different ways, so I have an inkling that if we stick you in a dress-"

Her scroll rang again. Same number. She frowned and cut the connection.

"I am _not_ wearing a dress!" Vernal shrieked, which was a good reaction, probably only needed to be poked and prodded a bit more. Vernal seemed to read something in her expression because she continued, "I'm also not going to go out with my little brother!"

"You're not brother and sister though." Raven said with a huff.

"We might as well be!" Vernal growled. "I am _not_ and that's final!"

Raven sighed. "Okay, okay. Though that does leave us at square one again."

"And that's a good square to be on!" Vernal said, her face still so red that it could have lit up the night.

Raven opened her mouth to get one last bit of teasing in when her scroll rang again. Same damn number.

She accepted the call. "What!?"

"Portalportalportal!Ineedaportalrightnow!" Shirou said so quickly his words were tripping over one another.

Raven had activated her Semblance before he had finished pronouncing 'portal' for the second time. As soon as it was open Shirou dove through it and crashed to the floor.

"Close it!" he panted, and she did, the vortex vanishing as if it had never been.

Her bundle of stupid turned face up and lay on the floor, breathing heavily and cradling his left side.

"The hells happened to your scroll?" Raven asked.

"It got smashed when someone hit me with a hammer." Shirou said from his oh-so-comfortable spot on the floor.

Vernal knelt next to him and battered his hands away and began to tenderly press at Shirou's side, testing the injury. "You cough up any blood?"

"No," he answered with a gasp as she applied pressure.

"Well," she said, peeling his armor and shirt up to get a look at his side, he had a big ugly purple and blue bruise. "I don't think you broke any ribs this time, so that's good. Should probably still have Flaxen look at it when he's a bit more sober."

He removed his hood and mask and nodded.

Raven set her cup aside and went to kneel by his head. "So, I see you got yourself hurt."

"Don't do it," Shirou warned.

"You know, I seem to recall telling someone that going to Vale was a bad idea," she said tapping her chin in thought. "I can't for the life of me recall, who did I tell that to Vernal?"

"Oh," Vernal said with a smirk. "Some idiot."

"Don't do it," he repeated.

"Why, it almost looks like you got into a fight with Huntsmen," she continued as he groaned. "Perhaps a group of Huntsmen students. Why, it might be that perhaps you ran into alumni from Beacon Academy."

"Please don't, Raven," he begged. "I can't take it right now. Just don't."

She, of course, rightfully ignored him. "Why, perhaps you ran into Glynda Goodwitch herself."

He groaned and draped an arm across his eyes.

"Why Raven," Vernal said with a smirk, "It almost sounds like he was warned about something, and then got in trouble when he didn't properly heed that warning."

"Begonia!? _Et tú!?"_ Shirou called from his spot on the floor.

"Why Vernal, I am inclined to agree." Raven said with a sage nod.

"Noooooooo," Shirou groused.

"Why," Raven said, taking hold of Shirou's arm and peeling it away from his face so he could not hide his eyes, then leaned over to stare into his face, fighting the grin that wanted to spread across her features. "It seems to me that…perhaps."

"Please stop, don't do this to me, Raven."

Raven tapped his forehead. "I."

"Don't, dooooon't, I mean it."

She tapped his forehead again. "Told."

"Stop it! You stop that right now!"

She tapped his forehead again. "You!"

"Don't do this to me Raven," he begged. "I've already had a long day, cut me some slack."

She tapped his forehead a fourth time. "So!"

He groaned and mimed being stabbed.

She chuckled, lifted his head and shuffled forward so his head rested on her lap. "Vernal, go raid Flaxen's stash and grab this idiot something for the pain."

Vernal snorted and patted Shirou's hand a few times before rising fluidly to her feet and going out. They settled into a comfortable silence as he concentrated on breathing slowly and evenly.

"Raven," he said, sounding unusually hesitant.

"Yeah?" she prompted him when he did not continue.

"I think we should go to Yang."

Raven's breath hitched and she turned away from him. She could still feel his gaze on her though. "This again?"

"Please Raven, she saw you take me away and…" He seemed to cast around for the right words, but ultimately shrugged, grunting when that tugged at his injury. "I don't think she took it well. I think she's hurting."

She absently brushed some of his hair away from his forehead, stupid swords-for-brains. "And I already told you no. She…she'll be fine, she's a strong girl."

"Raven…I…I really think we should," he insisted. "We can even invite her to the tribe, she's all about killing Grimm and protecting people and thrill seeking, she might like it here."

She closed her eyes, forcing away the image of her no-longer-little spitfire roughhousing around the camp. She laid a hand gently over his mouth. "Not right now Shirou I…we'll talk about this later, okay? You're hurt, so let's get some pain killers in you and then you get some rest okay?"

She couldn't see his expression with her eyes closed, but chose to interpret his thoughtful hum as agreement.

=][=

**This story is now on a bi-weekly update schedule.**

**Yup. This is bottom Author's Notes. If you were hoping for more story, sorry. Stuff needs to be talked about that I didn't wanna do up top. Feel free to skip if you don't read these.**

**So yes. It has finally happened! It only took ten years of Shirou Pavolving the entirety of the Branwen tribe and nearly killing a kid! But Raven has begun the process of learning how to mom! Do you know what this means!?**

**We have finally reached the point in the story where I can get to the Family/Comfort part of Hurt/Comfort/Family! Up until now it was all Hurt! Because Raven...she was rough around the edges man...oooph.**

**It should be noted, yes, this Raven is in a better place emotionally than canon, and I went through the trouble of figuring out how and why. But I did not have the time in the Intermission to really showcase everything of how she got to this point, not to mention it would have been a jumbled mess. Changes are additive and they happen a little at a time and all.**

**The plan is to throw in some introspection and a flashback or two throughout the story to hint at how she got to this point of having a sort of jumbled together family-like support structure. We know from canon that she cared deeply for Vernal even if she did not show it. Here they've just bonded a bit more tightly thanks to having to take care of one particular idiot.**

**As to the collective actions of team RWBY/JNPR...look forward to next chapter where both sister teams have a heart-to-heart! 8D**

**For now, if you liked it, plz drop me a review and tell me what you liked. Go into detail even!**

**If you didn't like it, feel free to also drop me a review and tell me what you didn't like. Though I would politely request to keep things civil. There's no reason to take anything personal, this is, after all, just fanfiction. If you really dislike the story, plz tell me why, then...you know...you can like, just not read it? But the bit I care about is the going into detail as to what you didn't like. Just saying "I don't like this" is a kinda not enough. Just feels bad man.**

**Also, check your PMs and happy new year!**


	14. Chapter 12

Well...this one got long.

Don't get used to it!

'Nother second Saturday 'nother upload. Was surprised at the amount of anger some people directed to the members of RWBY and JNPR. XD

I mean yeah, they did kind of a dick move, but still. Was surprising at the level of vindictiveness in some of the comments.

Well, this here chapter shines a light on some stuff, as usual, won't excuse stuff, but it will perhaps explain it. We also get to see some of the wider changes Shirou has caused! It was fun working out the logic behind said changes, will try to figure out how to do a flash back or something, maybe. I've got one of the guys I bounce ideas off trying to get me to write an omake, and while I'm not entirely sure I will, the idea behind the omake he brings up sounds hilarious, so I'm tempted to try.

Also, preemptive for those of you that will say 'But Ozping wouldn't think that!' try and think about it from his perspective peeps. He is operating with far more limited knowledge than the reader is.

Not really a lot to say on this author's note actually...Free Overtime season is over so I've had some more time to chillax. Set up a table for workin' on my miniatures, so I've got that going for me, which is nice.

And yes, I _am_ decidedly sticking to the color naming rule! As much as I despise it! There is also a 40k reference in this chapter, kudos to whoever can find it/figure it out.

If you can't, that's fine. It just means no kudos to you. 8D

Again, don't get used to the length! It was accident! I'm trying for shorter chapters! ≧c≦

Once more, major kudos to Keeltheswift for betaing and fixing all of my horrifying punctuation as well as giving advice on stuff. Cookies to him.

As usual, reminder to, if you like it, drop me a review and let me know. Reviews help keep a guy writing.

If you didn't like it, drop me a review and let me know why. But do attempt to articulate why you didn't plz. That makes it more helpful. Do please remember however, there is no reason we can't be civil.

Strategische Snippet-Bombe! (ಠ_ಠ)

=][=

Glynda Goodwitch watched as Ruby Rose stomped her way to the door of the Headmaster's office with her back arched not unlike an angry cat.

Or…well…she tried. She was too svelte to get a good stomp on the glass floor, the end result being that she _tinked_ her way to the door one exaggerated step at a time. She stopped at the door, turned back to them, puffed her cheeks out, _tried_ to growl angrily and _tinked_ the floor repeatedly while standing in place.

It was the most adorable thing Glynda had seen in years.

Ruby turned around, opened the door, _tinked_ out, puffed her cheeks out at them one last time, and very slowly and carefully shut the door with a muted _click._

Glynda could only be glad that the debriefings were finally over. She turned back to the Headmaster, who had left his hot chocolate on the desk and was leaning against the window, looking for all the world as if that support were the only thing keeping him up.

"Brothers, what a disaster." James sighed as he ran a hand over his face.

Glynda grimaced, disaster was putting it lightly. Two days they had searched through every corner of Vale in between rescue and stray Grimm extermination efforts, hoping against hope that the Sword Hunter had not escaped. Somewhere in all that mess someone uploaded a video to the CCT showing most of team RWBY and half of JNPR fighting against and eventually beating the Sword Hunter, before Glynda restrained him and his subsequent escape. It was lucky that Vale had such good natural barriers, otherwise Glynda suspected that the resulting spike in negativity brought about by the video, which had very quickly gone viral, would have been enough to overrun the wall's perimeter defenses.

The closest thing to a silver lining of the entire debacle was that most of the outrage was directed at Glynda herself and, by extension, Ozpin. The public thankfully assumed that the students had acted under orders. That wasn't to say that they weren't being raked over the proverbial coals, but at least most of the blame was centered on Glynda and the Headmaster.

"I'm…I'm sorry Ozpin," she said. Brothers, how long had been since she felt like a student in detention. "If I hadn't-"

"No, Glynda," Ozpin interrupted with a sigh, resting his forehead against the glass. "I must say that the fault of this lies squarely on me."

"But Ozpin-!"

"It was me who told you that I had to meet with him 'no matter the cost.' Furthermore you couldn't have known of Mr. Ren's…resentment. Nor could you have known that Ms. Xiao Long had learned of their…connection, or that she and Mr. Ren would stick to quite such a creative interpretation of an order to 'delay' him." Ozpin took a deep breath and his shoulders slumped further. "Not to mention that this was the first conclusive proof we have of his remaining with Raven. It would seem that Qrow's conclusion that she had 'grown tired' of him and abandoned him somewhere was…incorrect."

"Well, this doesn't really change anything," James said, ever the pragmatist. "The public will tire of this eventually, we just need to wait for the situation to blow over. We've not factored him into any of our plans except as a wild card that kills Grimm. So what does it matter?"

Ozpin drew his head back and hit his forehead against the glass with a soft _thud_. "I am afraid my friend, that you are very much incorrect. This…encounter has changed everything."

He fell quiet. They waited for him to elaborate but Ozpin merely slumped further against the glass. Glynda and James exchanged worried looks before turning back to Ozpin. She took a step forward and rested her hands on the desk. "Headmaster?"

"Tell me Glynda, did you see the light?" he asked without turning around.

"Yes, it was…" she hesitated, "rather difficult not to."

"Me too, I saw that light from here," Ozpin said as he brought his head back and hit it once more against the glass.

"What does that light have to do with anything?" James asked gruffly.

"I have not seen that light in years," Ozpin answered. "And I have not seen it in that…magnitude in millennia."

"Wait," James said taking a step forward. "You can't possibly mean-"

"You said he did not have silver eyes, correct?" Ozpin interrupted. "You said amber, or perhaps golden?"

"I…yes."

Ozpin brought his head back and once more hit the glass. "I had suspected…no, if I am to be entirely honest, I had prayed I was wrong."

Glynda and James exchanged looks again before he turned back to Ozpin. "Wrong about what?"

Ozpin finally turned around, and Glynda almost flinched. The Headmaster had always had an amused glint in his eye, as if he were enjoying a private joke that he was unwilling to share.

Not anymore. Each and every year of the centuries he had suffered was painfully evident in his eyes.

"What I saw the day of the Breach, Glynda. Was the radiance of Light Itself," he said as he walked to his desk. "Not to mention that the video we recovered showed the light disintegrating any Creature of Grimm that it touched and the testimony of the students of him beseeching a God for aid moments before that light was unleashed. I believe that Light has once more graced Remnant with Its favor. I believe that It has seen fit to send me…to send _us_ another Champion. One to whom the Creatures of Grimm fall like wheat before the scythe. A Champion who is overwhelmingly powerful, yet kind."

Ozpin reached his desk and slowly collapsed into his chair. "And Raven Branwen has had him since he was a child and has thoroughly poisoned him against me—against _us_. She took him and has probably done all she can to claim his power for herself, and she has been allowed to do this, unimpeded, for an entire decade. And then the _one time_ he comes within my reach, he does it to protect _my city_ from the Creatures of Grimm. And what do I do? In my hubris…in my panic…in my _utter stupidity_, I have likely affirmed in his mind every lie Raven has fed him."

Slowly, he sunk his face into his hands, his shoulders pushed down by a terrible burden. "I may well have cost Remnant a weapon that could have tipped our shadow war in our favor. So you see James, everything has indeed changed, and I am afraid that it has not changed for the better."

"I…" Glynda tried and failed to swallow the lump in her throat.

Just what exactly was there to say?

=][=

Pyrrha fidgeted as Ruby stomped back and forth glaring at the walls. Teams RWBY and JNPR were currently enjoying relative isolation in the dorms, mainly by shutting themselves up in their rooms. They couldn't go anywhere at the moment without being either cheered or glared at.

A small and guilty part of Pyrrha secretly felt some relief that, for once, she wasn't the center of attention when walking down Beacon's halls.

The eight of them were currently crowded in JNPR's room and the silence kept growing thornier and thornier.

Ruby fumed and increased the speed with which she stomped back and forth. Yang sat on the ground, slumped down and head bowed, flinching any time her sister passed by her. Blake was pretending to read a book, but had forgotten to change the page for the last two hours. By the way her bow twitched Pyrrha guessed that she was using her cat ears to keep track of Ruby. Ms. Schnee kept her eyes riveted to her scroll, periodically turning the screen back on as it kept turning off due to lack of activity.

Ren was sitting on his bed, his elbows on his knees and his face buried in his hands. Nora was sitting next to him gently rubbing his back. Sitting at his other side was Jaune, who had a hand pressed on the other boy's shoulder.

Pyrrha felt utterly useless. She'd tried to chat with and cheer people up, but had eventually retreated to the corner desk, the furthest away she could be from anyone else. How to go about fixing things? Well there were seven of them, if she were fighting seven opponents, what would be her first step?

Ruby stopped in the center of the room, the sudden cessation of her soft stomps making the silence deafening. She took a deep breath.

"Ok, I had thought that we were all of the same opinion on Mr. Sword Hunter. Or," she paused with a meaningful glance at Weiss, "at the very least sort of tolerated Jaune's and my fangirlism. But two days ago... just what the heck happened guys? Why did everyone go crazy?"

Everyone exchanged glances, then looked away.

Ruby crossed her arms and settled in to wait.

The silence grew heavier and more painful until Ren sighed. "When I was a kid the Sword Hunter saved a village near my hometown."

He looked up and met Ruby's gaze. "People from that village came to Kuroyuri and spoke of how a child made it rain swords and wiped out a Grimm horde. I remember feeling…that we'd be safe. After all, we were bigger, of course the Sword Hunter would come if he had saved that village…

"And then Kuroyuri was attacked. He never came."

Pyrrha was not the only one to wince. Ren's utter lack of tone lent his words a biting edge.

His gaze flitted between Ruby and Jaune. "I felt…betrayed, let down. I remember feeling…thinking that…that he must have let Kuroyuri die out of spite." He took a deep breath before his eyes fell to the floor. "I know that…that I was being stupid, I'd just lost my home town and…and I needed something to blame. I honestly thought I was over it but…"

He dropped his face back into his hands. "But the moment I saw him raining swords down on the Grimm, it all just…it rushed right back, suddenly it wasn't nine years ago it had _just happened_. I hadn't lost my home and family a long time ago, they'd _just_ _died_. And…"

He sniffled, prompting Nora to hug him and bury her face in his neck. Jaune gave his shoulder a squeeze. "It's okay buddy, I-"

"It's not!" Ren said gruffly, which was the equivalent of a shout from anyone else. "Because I'm still angry at him! I still want to hate him! I want to know why he did not save my home! So when he ran, I attacked him and…and he forgave me! He didn't even think to be angry or offended! And that makes it worse!"

"Oh Ren…" Pyrrha murmured.

Nora hiccuped and sniffled at the same time. "As for me? I just wanted him to go away because…because he was hurting Ren."

Silence once more fell among them until Yang took a deep breath and spoke at the floor.

"I think my biological mother fought him and took him away from the train," Yang said with a sigh. "I caught a glimpse of her…and…"

She looked up at Ruby with a pleading expression. "I called her Mom, Ruby. I called her Mom. It was just…spur of the moment but…but does that mean that I betrayed Summer?" Yang jumped to her feet and began to pace, waving her arms in agitation as she spoke. "The woman who raised me? Who baked me cookies and sang me lullabies? Cause it sure feels like that!"

"Yang…" Ruby muttered as she reached out for her sister.

"And then he came back!" Yang shouted, stepping away from Ruby. "And he swooped in and saved you! And plugged the breach! But…but all I could think about was that he had some connection to my…to _her!_" Yang's eyes turned a bright red and her hair began to rustle in an absent breeze. "That he could tell me _why _I wasn't good enough for _her!_ That he could tell me where I could _find_ _her!"_

Yang stopped, closed her eyes, and visibly forced herself to calm down. When she opened them again her eyes were lilac once more.

"And then…and then he wouldn't talk. He…he _knew something_ but wouldn't tell me…and…and I thought that if he wouldn't answer me, then I would beat the answers out of him! And…" She sighed, sniffled and wiped her eyes. "Look I know it was stupid, and unfair, and dumb, and that I was a bitch to our hero right after he saved you and Vale. But…but I was so _angry and_…and guilty and…and…"

This time Yang accepted her sister's hug, and clung onto her as if little Ruby Rose was the only thing holding her up.

Everyone watched in silence for a few moments, until Ms. Schnee ran a hand over her face and sighed. "Well, since we're all taking turns here. I…my parents don't have the best relationship. My father was domineering and demanding, and my mother was…" A range of emotions flitted across her face, too quickly to name any particular one before her face settled into carefully maintained neutrality. "Distant.

"I was all but raised by my older sister, Winter. I love her, and she's kind...in her own way but…she has never praised me, not once." She set her scroll down on the desk and turned away from it. "No matter how hard I worked, how hard I tried, how well I did. My performance was never more than 'satisfactory' to her…And Winter…well, she's not a hypocrite. Her record in the academy was spotless, she was the top of all of her classes, she excels at everything she ever puts her mind to."

Ms. Schnee closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before turning away from Ruby. "There is only one thing she has ever failed at. For years now, her and the Ace-Ops have had standing orders to detain the Sword Hunter if ever he is in Atlas."

"What!?" Jaune said, jumping to his feet with a glare.

"It's not like that!" Ms. Schnee said quickly. "It's because General Ironwood would also like to talk to him. Anyway, the point is…he's been sighted in Atlas and Mantle several times since that assignment was given and…and it's been the only thing Winter has ever failed at."

She looked up, unshed tears quivering on the corners of her eyes. "And…and I thought that…that if I was part of the group that successfully detained him, if I succeeded at the _only thing _Winter has ever failed at…then…then she'd _finally_ praise me, she'd finally tell me what a good job I did.

"I know that it's such a petty reason bu-"

She was cut off as Ruby tackle-hugged her in a burst of rose petals.

Slowly, hesitantly, Weiss returned the hug. An instant later, Yang joined in and lifted the two of them off the floor, ignoring their surprised squawks and Weiss' indignant "Put me down this instant, you brute!"

Pyrrha couldn't help but chuckle at team RWBY's antics, that is until Jaune gave a deep sigh. Yang turned towards him with a bemused look as he leaned back onto the dormitory wall. Her captives likewise stared curiously from her arms as he scowled down at his sword, opening and closing his mouth a few times before speaking slowly. "I don't know _why_ he didn't save your town, Ren. Maybe he got held up elsewhere, or maybe he just didn't know until it was too late. And...maybe he _is_ keeping secrets and stuff, but _everyone_ keeps secrets sometimes. And he _has_ saved a lot of people from the Grimm. And to be honest, if it weren't for the Sword Hunter…I probably wouldn't even be here."

"Eh?" Pyrrha asked eloquently.

Jaune gave her a rather brittle smile. "You know me, clumsy middle of the pack. My parents didn't want me or my sisters to be Huntsmen or Huntresses. A bit hypocritical because my dad was the town's resident Huntsman. And well…growing up, I wasn't exactly the strongest or the smartest…but…but I still dreamed about it, to be a Huntsman and protect people.

"And then _he_ happened. And he saved towns and villages and killed Grimm with a simple sword even if he was just a kid like me, and I thought, 'If he can do it, then why not me?' so…I started training." He scratched his cheek. "And I wasn't very good at it, but I was able to win me a scholarship to a combat school where…I didn't do all that well."

"But Jaune," Pyrrha protested. "You're easily one of the best in the class!"

He snorted. "Yeah I'm good when compared to the worst of the class, but I can't hold a candle to _any_ of you guys in a fight. The only reason I met the combat requirements for Beacon was that I outlasted everyone else in my class. I always turned the match into an endurance contest and well…" He sighed and shrugged. "I'm good at those. But there were so many times when I would have given up! And every time I was about to throw in the towel, _he'd_ save another village or town, and I'd think that…if I gave up, I'd be disappointing him, so I'd stick with it for a while longer…and now I'm here."

Well, as far as Pyrrha was concerned, that was at least one thing to be thankful to the Sword Hunter for…or well…two, because he did basically singlehandedly stem the tide of Grimm. Or three, because he protected towns in the peripheries.

Blake shifted in her seat, causing the others turned their gazes toward her. She sighed and put her book down, then hugged her knees to her chest. "He is fair to Faunus."

Everyone blinked and stared at her.

"Look, I'm not good at talking, okay?" she growled and curled up tighter. "I was at a protest before…before the White Fang turned violent. And it turned ugly. Some people rushed the protesters and suddenly there was a wall of huge blunt swords between the humans and us.

"Some people tried throwing things and fricking _swords_ knocked whatever it was off the air and then disappeared. And then he was just _there_, and all he did was stare from one group to the other." She chortled. "And he didn't answer any questions. He'd just look at us, then look at the humans then back to us. He didn't even react when people called him an animal lover or a race traitor. Then he shrugged and left, just up and disappeared…but any thrown stone was still knocked aside by swords for the rest of the protest.

"It kinda backfired on us because later all the news would talk about was whether or not the Sword Hunter was a Faunus. But…he stopped it from becoming a riot, and…well, until then I thought he just protected people from Grimm." Blake took a deep breath and let it out, then scratched her cheek. "Umm…that's it. I don't have some big Remnant-shattering history with him. I rushed into the fight because Yang and Weiss did so I-"

"Shut up and get in the hug," Yang said.

Blake rolled her eyes and made her way to the team RWBY pileup and lightly put her arms around her group.

Ruby wiggled until she managed to free herself and bounced around the room. "Weeeeeell, since we're all sharing. Mr. Sword Hunter has saved my life three times now!"

"Totally unfair," Jaune muttered, and Ruby stuck her tongue out at him.

"The first time, Yang and I were just kids…though I kinda missed that one cause I was napping," Ruby admitted with a giggle, then she brought her hood over her head and began to twiddle her thumbs. "Then later I was kind of being a brat and ran into the woods around my house because my sister told me not to. And I sorta ran into an Ursa, and it was gonna eat me, and then Mr. Sword Hunter killed it just like that. And…both times, he gave me this."

She drew a small, simple wooden knife from her cloak. "My magic knife, the umm…the first time he gave it to me, it appeared out of nowhere with a flash of light so I figured it was magical."

She presented the toy with a wistful smile as her eyes began to shine with unshed tears. "And I remember thinking that…that any time I needed him, he'd be there for me…and…and I think I kinda needed that a lot, cause it helped me feel safe after my mom died. It was like having my own Maiden…or I guess since he's a boy, my own Wizard, except you know, not a hermit, and a little older than me instead of super old. But uhh…my magic knife only ever hangs around for a few months before _'poof'_ and it's gone."

Weiss stared slack-jawed. "Ruby do you know how valuable that is!? I can name five institutes that would give you a King's ransom for that toy! It might be the key to understanding his Semblance!"

Ruby disappeared in a puff of rose petals and reappeared beside Jaune, she pulled him in front of her like a shield before hissing at Weiss. _"My_ magic knife!"

Everyone looked like they'd gotten a great weight off their back. Maybe she should try it? Pyrrha brought her hands together and began to poke her index fingers at each other. "Ummm…I uhh…wanted to ask him for a fight?"

Everyone blinked and looked at her quietly, and she felt her face heating up. "Well…everyone was sharing about him and stuff, and…ummm."

Now that she thought about it 'I was feeling left out' was sounding like an extremely embarrassing way to end her sentence.

Her face felt hotter by the second until Blake rescued her, leaving Weiss to suffer as the only person trapped by Yang's hug, and since her feet were not on the ground she couldn't do anything more than grumble and wriggle ineffectually.

"Actually, there's…something I need to tell you guys, I ran into the Sword Hunter after he disengaged, he was…hiding in an alley and I was able to talk to him," Blake said hesitantly. She then told them of her conversation with him.

"Mr. Sword Hunter didn't give me an autograph because he was shy?" Ruby said, her eyes shining before continuing in a high pitched whisper. _"Oh my Gods that's adorable!"_

"You just let him walk away!?" Weiss growled much more to the point. "And why didn't you ask him what in the name of Remnant was so important that he couldn't spare an hour for the Headmaster!?"

Blake clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Why would he go meet with Ozpin if he thinks he can't trust the Headmaster!? Besides, would _you_ just tell a random person that asked you something personal? _After_ she tried to stab you multiple times?"

"He probably would tell you," Jaune said, crossing his arms.

"Yeah!" Ruby said. "Mr. Sword Hunter was willing to talk and all, so he probably would have. Though it's also a good thing you didn't, cause everyone was still looking and he needed to get away. All we gotta do is be careful around the Headmaster while we figure out where the misunderstanding is!

"What _I_ wanna know is who his sisters are! Do you think they're nice?" Ruby gasped. "Since he makes swords, _do you think his sisters make guns!?"_

Pyrrha frowned, hadn't Yang said that her biological mother had taken him away? Could that mean that maybe…maybe he was their half-brother? Or well…they were half-sisters so he'd be Yang's…

"Omigosh Jaune! You have a bunch of sisters right!? Do you think I could bribe his sisters into telling me what he likes!?" Ruby asked, her eyes shining.

"Erm…" Jaune said, backing away slowly from Ruby who followed him each step of the way.

"And then I could get it for him and he'll forgive us for attacking him and me for slowing him down!" she continued, speaking faster by the word.

"I…Ruby, personal space." Jaune said, his face turning red as his back smacked against the wall and Ruby continued to press closer.

Pyrrha felt a stab of jealousy and quickly suppressed it. With her obvious crush on her idol, Ruby was not any competition Pyrrha needed to worry about…or at least she hoped so.

=][=

Vernal grit her teeth as the cobalt and rust colored junker shuddered like a thing alive. She hated off-roading with the thing but it was the most expendable out of the tribe's small fleet of vehicles.

And with what she was going to be doing today, it was always a good idea to risk as little as possible.

She turned to look at her driver. Sylvia had a…funny expression as she swerved between trees, something between a frown of concentration and a manic grin that pulled the scar on her cheek taut. It was rather disconcerting.

With one final painful bounce the junker entered a relatively flat area and she no longer felt as if her soul was being shaken out of her body, merely as if her teeth were being shaken loose, a huge improvement.

"Alright!" Sylvia said with a twinkle in her blue eyes and a barked laugh. "It'll be more boring, but it should be smooth driving from here!"

If Sylvia considered what they had just endured 'fun,' Vernal did not want to find out what the crazy girl would find exciting.

"Yeah well," Vernal said with a sigh. "Just remember that Shirou said to be careful with the car."

Sylvia's grin widened. "If I fuck the car right up, do you think he'll try and spank me?"

"I know Raven will kill you." Vernal answered with a roll of her eyes.

"Bah! She loves me and you know it! I just need her to figure that out!"

Half of Vernal prayed that the fight-obsessed idiot never uttered those words in front of Raven. The other half fervently hoped she did.

She leaned back into her seat and spoke with forced levity. "So…how's things between you and Shirou? Any progress?"

Sylvia's smirk vanished, and the woman sighed, running a hand through her short silver hair. "Nothing, I haven't even gotten him to fight me for the last couple days, he's usually a really good sport about that."

Vernal could guess why, Shirou always got especially…restless anytime he saw a girl with green eyes and it wasn't who he was looking for. He was taking it easy so he could heal enough and go look for _her_ again. Being their support on this outing was the most physically active he'd been in two days.

"That fight at Vale must've taken a lot out of him," Sylvia continued. "Aura depletion sure's a bitch."

"So I take it he hasn't…returned your umm…advances?" Vernal asked after a lengthy pause, causing the other woman to grimace.

"You know how he is," she said, shrugging angrily. "I'd be more than down for a tumble in the grass with him, and I know he's into girls cause of that time I got him drunk and traded spit. But his head is so full of that girl he's looking for, he won't really consider bein' with anyone else. Lucky bitch."

The last was said in a low growl, a sentiment shared by nearly every woman in the tribe. As far as Vernal knew, Sylvia had gotten the farthest out of all of them, which was not nearly far enough as far as Vernal was concerned.

But she didn't dare voice her views carelessly in front of Shirou, or he'd make nothing but crappy food for a couple weeks. And while Vernal usually shared Raven's immunity to his 'enforcing discipline', even she was not safe if she ever brought up the fact that he should give up and be happy with someone else.

Maybe even Sylvia. He could do worse…he could also do a lot better, but Vernal was desperate and beggars can't be choosers.

She spotted a ramshackle-looking wooden stake fence and tapped Sylvia's shoulder. The woman grinned and gunned the engine, which was the exact opposite of what Vernal had wanted. The junker jumped, and she nearly bit her tongue. The vehicle roared out of the trees and skidded to a stop in front of a pair of surprised bandits.

Vernal activated her Aura and stepped out as it covered her with a teal shimmer. She heard Sylvia close the door on the junker as the two of them sauntered over to the two bandits.

They grinned and stood straighter, one of them holding a cleaver in a casual grip the other had a revolver of all things holstered at his hip. They were both dressed in dirty grey pants, a brown shirt, and a denim jacket with what she was fairly certain were old blood stains. The one with the cleaver stepped forward with an easy grin, "So, what's a pair of pretty little ladies doin' coming over to our camp? It's dangerous to travel the woods alone you know?"

Vernal's Fire Blade was dimpling the skin over his carotid artery in less time than it took to blink. A drop of blood began to bead on his neck, the fool hadn't even activated his Aura, amateur.

"Nah ah ah!" Sylvie said, drawing her shotgun-tonfas and pointing them at the man with the revolver before he'd even finished fumbling his weapon out of its holster. "Don't do anything rash unless you want a slug and some buckshot in the ballsack."

Vernal rolled her eyes and turned back to the man she held at knife point, she could see the rest of the bandit tribe had noticed them and was getting ready to tussle. The Karmesinweg tribe (And no, there was no way in any hell that Vernal would bother trying to pronounce that. Keep that Atlesian shit where it belongs), an exemplary group of wretches among scumbags.

She pressed her fire blade a little more tightly against the man's neck.

"Look fuck-o, if I so much as think you're activating your Aura, I'll slit your throat before it finishes coming up." Vernal said with as manic a grin as she could muster. "You've already wasted more of my time than you're worth. So how about you do me a solid? Suck up the fact that you are being manhandled by a pretty little lady such as myself and take me to the guy in charge, there's some discussing that needs to happen and I'm not gonna do it with an idiot like you."

She retracted her blade and placed the tips of the knife on his stomach, which also conveniently lined up the barrels of the shotgun to gut his worthless ass. She gave him a poke with the point of the blade. "Hurry it up, I'm a busy girl."

Sylvia and her walked the two sentries into the camp at gunpoint, Vernal looked over her shoulder as the enemy tribe closed in around the two of them. Hopefully they'd not think to scratch up the car, it was a dinged and rusted piece of shit sure, but dammit, it was _her_ dinged and rusted piece of shit.

Well…technically it was the tribe's, but this also made it hers. Well, more Raven's than hers.

Semantics.

Contrary to her expectations, the one she was taken to was not a brute, but rather a whipcord-thin man of clear Mistralean descent, a small pointed goatee on his chin. He had piercing grey eyes and black hair with white on the temples, and was dressed in a fairly traditional green Mistralean outfit. And unlike most of the Karmesinweg scum, he was clean.

He sighed, his voice was deeper than she had expected for someone so thin. "Could you do me a favor and kill these two idiots? It will save me the trouble."

"Sorry old man," Sylvia said cheekily and holstered one of her weapons with a twirl. "We're not here to do laundry. Besides, we're legit-ish lawwomen; killing idiots that surrendered would look bad."

His eyes flashed as the men around them began to laugh. "So it's true? The mighty Branwens have gone soft?"

Vernal rolled her eyes. "Look fuck-o." She saw him press his lips into a thin line. "I'm here to deliver a warning, after that I'll be on my way, and if you're smart, you'll give up your banditry ways and not bother another soul for the rest of your miserable lives."

His lip curled. "And what warning would this be?"

"Get. The Fuck. Off our turf." Vernal drawled. "You are not welcome here, if we so much as see one of you near one of our towns or villages, we'll take it as a declaration of war, beat you all into submission, and turn you in to the nearest town that will pay a bounty on the lot of you and you'll be hung or shot.

"If you think I'm bluffing, go right ahead. We have more men than you do, we have better fighters than you do, and we have more _and_ better weapons than you do." She shrugged. "There, warning delivered. If you're smart, you'll pack up and get the fuck out."

Vernal turned her back on him and looked at the men standing around her shoulder to shoulder. And placed a hand on her hip. "Well? Get the fuck outta my way, I've places to be."

The men laughed cruelly and cracked their knuckles.

"But wait!" She heard goatee say behind her, she could all but feel his leer on her, ugh. "I have a counter proposal. We'll beat you into the ground, rape you, and if we particularly like you, we won't even kill you."

Vernal turned to Sylvia, who beamed at her. "Oh oh oh! Can I do it? Please? You did it last time! You said it'd be my turn this time!"

Vernal rolled her eyes and waved a hand vaguely in Sylvia's direction.

Sylvia grinned and pointed a finger gun at the Karmesinweg's chief.

Vernal suppressed a smirk. Three, two…

"Pow!" Sylvia said, miming firing a gun, at that exact moment the ground exploded right next to their earnest host an instant before a sonic _boom_ washed over all of them.

Everyone threw themselves to the ground or behind cover and pointed their weapons at Vernal and Sylvia, she was pleasantly surprised by their trigger discipline as they didn't open fire. Though that was probably because their chief was in the line of fire and from what she'd heard of these guys, grazing him was a death sentence, but still credit where it's due.

The dust settled, and everyone stared at the enormous solid steel corkscrew arrow sticking out of the crater directly to the right of his foot.

Vernal smirked at him over her shoulder.

"I might have neglected to mention. We brought support, and you just used up your one warning shot. You might not wanna move cause the next one is going through your chest, and word of warning, our guy only needs one of those to break someone's Aura." She began to swagger away, Sylvia skipping happily behind her, any bandit in their path all but throwing themselves out of their way. "You have two days, fuck-o! Any longer than that and we'll wipe you out! But seriously! Give up banditry, you'll just regret it otherwise."

Nobody bothered them as they got back to the Junker, climbed in, and started to drive away. Vernal settled in to endure Sylvia's driving as they started their mile and change drive to pick up Shirou.

She flipped off the camp behind them as they made their way into the trees, Gods above she loved protecting people.

=][=

Raven stared around in Shirou's tent. She looked at his bedroll, at the footlocker where he kept his clothes, and a small bookshelf with cook books, engineering books and other reference materials, and a small lamp.

And that was it. His possessions took up less than a fifth of the space of his tent.

She scratched her temple in irritation. Everything about her bundle of stupid was plain weird.

His Aura did not protect him, it turned his skin into hardened leather, his clothes into chainmail, and steel plates into something else entirely. Damage mitigation rather than nullification, she suspected that this made it more cost effective, freeing up more Aura to use his Semblance offensively.

He was the most sought after man in the camp and the villages around it, but where another man might take advantage and enjoy himself, he barely noticed. Obsessed as he was with finding a girl he didn't even properly remember.

He was the second best warrior in the tribe, and if Raven's suspicions were correct, he was the deadliest. But violence was always a last resort with him, and even then he often strived to end the fighting as quickly and as bloodlessly as possible.

She gave him a tent worthy of his position and skill, yet he used next to none of it. Hells, if she hadn't known better, she would have assumed the tent didn't have an occupant.

He worked himself to the bone every day, to such an extent that she had taken to threatening him with withholding her Semblance purely to force him to relax. And even then he studied rather than do anything for fun.

He was always willing to give, loathed to take or be helped. And most worryingly of all, the idiot never smiled. It was always degrees of scowl with him.

Well, not true, she had caught him smiling a time or two, but those smiles always seemed…hollow, like he was putting on an act to be polite or reassuring.

"Stupid swords-for-brains," Raven muttered sullenly and stepped out of his tent. The camp bustled around her. Things had…changed a lot since her bundle of stupid happened. The camp was larger for one, the wall surrounding it much more solid. Over the years Shirou had convinced the men and women of the tribe to have an actual layout, making the camp much tidier.

Which was a necessity as it freed up space for a large tarp where they kept the Branwen's small fleet of vehicles, all of them painstakingly refurbished and maintained by Shirou. That idiot kid just had an obscene knack for tinkering.

There was…order, a rotation of people on station in towns and villages, patrol schedules, even some of the smarmier members of the tribe dedicating most of their time to administration and, dare she think it, human relations.

Somewhere in the last ten years the Branwens had changed, and she had not even noticed. And again, the 'fault' could be placed squarely on one particular idiot.

The gate guards whistled the signal for 'incoming friendly vehicle, no threat' and Raven made her way to the gate. The blue junker rattled in and slowed to a stop. Vernal, Sylvia and her bundle of stupid stepped out.

Sylvia proceeded to jump onto and cling to Shirou; Raven caught something about a reward for being a good boy. She clicked her tongue in annoyance, seriously he could do a lot better.

She met Vernal's eye and tilted her head. Vernal shook her head slightly, flicked her eyes at Shirou, and gave her a small signal. Raven sighed and made her way over.

Shirou was currently trying to get Sylvia off him, while the girl did her level best to smother him with her tits. She didn't quite have a large enough chest for what she attempted, but she made up for it with enthusiasm.

"Shirou you have a perfectly good tent, don't make a show of yourself," Raven said with a smirk, there were a few muted (and jealous) chuckles from the men closing and guarding the gate.

Shirou tilted his head back just enough to get a breath of air and glare at her.

"Hey boss lady!" Sylvia called happily.

"Hi Sylvia, demure as ever I see." Raven said.

"Hey! Strut 'em if you got 'em I says!" Sylvia answered with a grin and tightened her hold around his head, once more burying his face in her cleavage. "Besides, he's _super_ fun to ride."

Raven rolled her eyes and enjoyed Shirou's squirming for a little while before speaking. "Alright that's enough, I need to talk to him."

Sylvia jumped off him in an instant and slapped his back as he inhaled. "All yours, ma'am! Think I can get him for a fight when you're done?"

Raven fought the urge to roll her eyes. "Probably not, scurry away now."

Sylvia slapped Shirou's back one last time and walked away. "Talk to ya later lover-boy!"

"Sylvie!" he said petulantly. "I've told you time and again to call me Shirou!"

"Whatever you say stud!" She called over her shoulder. Leaving Shirou to grumble to himself.

Raven nodded toward her tent, turned her back on him, and started walking. She felt more than heard him fall into step beside her. She took a deep breath. "So how did scaring the Karmesinweg go?"

"Well enough, I guess," he answered neutrally. "I wasn't in a good place to listen in."

Raven blindly threw a soft punch at his shoulder, "Cut the bullshit mister 'I can count the leaves on a tree two miles out.'"

He sighed as they ducked into her tent. "By the look on their faces, I think it's safe to say their chief would have a hard time getting them to push further into our turf. They'll probably wait right until the end of the two days before packing up and leaving, but they'll leave."

They fell quiet while he prepared tea. He set a cup down in front of her and sat down across from her at her table.

"And?" she pressed and took a sip. How he made such a simple thing taste so good was beyond her.

He looked off to the side and grimaced, which was Shirou for 'I'm trying to look innocent.'

"And nothing, they'll leave. That'll be the end of that," he muttered.

Raven sipped her drink and gave him a long, flat stare. "You have that 'I'm going to do something stupid' face you do any time you're going to do something stupid."

His scowl deepened. "I don't have that face."

"And now you have your 'Raven called me out on the fact I'm going to do something stupid' face."

"I don't have that face either."

"No need to pout, Shirou," Raven said sweetly.

"I'm not pouting!" he groused, quaffed his tea and started to lever himself to his feet. "If that's all then I-"

Raven took hold of his wrist. "Sit."

He did, still not meeting her eye. She refilled his cup and sighed. "Why do you always do this?"

His eyes flickered to her for an instant before looking away again. "I'm not doing anything."

She reached out and flicked him on the forehead. "That's what you get for lying."

He rubbed his brow and grumbled.

"I'm going to start making some guesses, feel free to stop me the moment I get one wrong," Raven said as she placed an elbow on the table and rested her chin on her palm. "Let's see, I imagine you were about to come up with an excuse, such as going hunting, or getting an early start on the Grimm cull. You were going to explain that you'd be ranging far and be gone for a few days, maybe a couple of weeks, that Vernal should be able to handle the cooking cause you've taught her well enough."

She poured herself another cup of tea and took a sip to wet her throat. "Now this would not arouse any suspicion as you've done it fairly often before. After that you'd run off, on foot. And you'd kill Grimm as you said you would. By nightfall you'd be near the Karmesinweg's camp. And then you'd stake them out. You'd follow them when they moved, learn their patterns and guard schedules. You'd think something naïve like 'they might turn from their path of hurting people' and stalk along, hoping they'll somehow learn a lesson, maybe copy what the Branwen tribe is doing now. You'd wait until they attacked a town, and then you'd fall on them like the wrath of an angry God and cripple the lot of them.

"Of course since your Aura is weird and you'd be taking on all of their warriors at once on your own, after several days of unrestful sleep and poor food, you'd be tired, you'd make mistakes and get hurt. You'll be stubborn, you'll try to deal with it yourself, you'll wait until you're nearly delirious with fever before pulling out your fucking scroll and giving me a call to ask for a portal." The more Raven talked, the softer and colder her voice became. She quaffed her tea and set the cup down hard. "The entire tribe and I will spend several days so worried we will barely be able to get any work done until Flaxen says you'll make it and we'll all breathe a sigh of relief. Unless of course, you up and fucking die."

Shirou was glaring at the table, not meeting her eyes.

She reached out as her Aura covered her with a red flash, took hold of his collar and pulled him violently over the table. Slamming him to the floor, she straddled his chest, locked his arms to his sides with her legs and took hold of a handful of his hair. "You look at me when I talk to you! Go on! Tell me I was wrong! Tell me you weren't about to go off while you're _still hurt from your last fight!_ Tell me you weren't going to do exactly as I said and possibly get yourself killed because you don't know when to retreat and refuse to do the smart thing and kill a bunch of worthless lowlifes in their sleep!"

He returned her glare, but remained silent.

"How many times have I told you Shirou! You don't do this shit to me! You don't do this shit to _us!_ What do I have to do so you'll _finally fucking listen!?"_ she growled at him, almost nose to nose.

His jaw worked as he tried to formulate a response, he opened and closed his mouth several times before finally saying. "I don't want to inconvenience you guys, and you might get hurt."

A red haze filled the edges of her vision as she cocked her fist back and drove it down. And for an instant she wasn't straddling a young man that outweighed her by fifty pounds, but a child whose tears were hidden by the rain. That glimpse robbed her of her strength and her fist thudded lightly against his chest.

Raven let go of his hair and leaned back, burying her face in her hands and muffling a guttural scream as she tried to get herself under control. Belatedly, she felt his arms around her and tried to throw him off, but his hold was too tight.

"Get. Off. Me. You. Shit. Head," she growled, punctuating every word with a punch to his gut on the opposite side to where he got hammered, each one causing him to grunt.

"I'm sorry Raven," he said as he buried his face into her shoulder. "I won't go, okay? I'm sorry."

Raven felt herself relaxing against her will. She punched him in the gut again. "Stupid."

She rested her forehead on his shoulder and took several deep breaths, her arms hovered around him for a moment before they dropped back to her sides. "Promise me that you won't go after the Karmesinweg alone."

"I won't."

She punched him in the gut. "I want to hear you say the words. Promise me you won't go after them on your own."

He remained quiet for a long time before sighing. "I promise."

She gave him a much weaker punch. "Say the whole thing."

"I promise not to go after them on my own," he said slowly.

She relaxed fully into his embrace, suddenly feeling exhausted. "I liked you more when I could throw you."

"Love you too, mom." he said with a chuckle, then grunted when she punched him.

She let herself be held for a minute before tapping his arm. He let go of her and she climbed to her feet then held out her arm to help him to his. She sat back at her table and refilled the cups with lukewarm tea. He sat quietly across from her, neither of them able to look at the other.

"So," she talked into her tea. "You probably wanna go look for this girl of yours, right?"

His breath caught. "I…Yeah, that'd be nice. But if you need me to stick around, I can stay."

She closed her eyes and sipped her tea. "No…I know how you get, Glynda has green eyes. Have you thought of where to go?"

"I…I was thinking Vacuo, the search got cut short last time," he answered hesitantly.

"Okay, you uhh…" She closed her eyes and sighed. "Look, I'll keep an eye on the Karmesinweg, okay? If it looks like they'll attack a settlement, I'll grab you and you can help stop them. How does that sound?"

He turned the cup slowly in his hands, staring into the tea as if it held all the answers. "What if…what if it's not in our turf?"

"I'll still keep an eye on them, okay? I'll handle it personally so you can fuck off and look for your green eyed girl in peace. Deal?"

His scowl deepened. "I can't…I can't inconvenien-"

She flicked him on the forehead. "Shut it, this is for my own sake more than yours anyways. Seriously it seems like half of all my days are spent worrying about you."

He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "I…Thanks Raven, I appreciate it a lot."

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "So…Vacuo huh? You need to gather any supplies?"

He thought about it for a few moments before shaking his head. She waved a hand and a portal opened. "Off you go, give me a call when you wanna come back."

He quaffed his tea and finally looked at her. "Really. Thanks Raven."

"Yeah whatever," she brushed off with a soft smile.

He nodded and walked through the portal which winked out as she stopped supporting it. She pulled out her scroll and sent Vernal a message, a few minutes later her adjutant walked into her tent, looked around, and sighed.

"I take it he went off to search for her?" Vernal asked.

"Yup," Raven answered.

"Was it to distract him from attacking the bandit tribe on his own?"

"Yup."

"Think he'll be back in the next few days?"

"Nope."

"Did you promise to watch over the bandits and bring him back if it looks like they'll attack anyone?"

"Yup."

"Want me to put together a strike force so we can go wipe them out and save you the trouble?"

"Yup."

"Standard bullshit line about going on a raid for old time's sake?"

"Yup."

"I'll get right on it."

"Thanks."

Vernal turned around and left her tent. Raven for her part took the time to enjoy the rest of Shirou's tea. It really was unfair that anything he made tasted so good.


	15. Chapter 13

Posting this early cause I'mma be busy all Saturday. Huge Kudos to KeeltheSwift for helping with betaing and fixing the mess I call writing.

So...this thing has over two thousand followers.

And it's the 9th most followed FSN/RWBY crossover in the website.

...

_Screaming externally_.

=][=

As the portal vanished behind him, Shirou took stock of his surroundings and waved at Katsanje, pretending as usual to have run into her by coincidence. Why a former Huntress born and raised in the mild climate of Vale would choose to raise a family in a desert filled with fauna that was more dangerous than Grimm, Shirou would never know.

As he wandered around the city of Vacuo he spotted Shade academy and wondered not for the first time if he should try for a Huntsman license; being able to use the Huntsmen job boards _would _save him a lot of trouble as far as picking up work while searching. His main problem being he'd have to dedicate at least three years and maybe more to attain the license. Which would set back his search for an inexcusable length of time.

There was also the fact that the Branwens needed him to keep the vehicles in working order, driving off-road at speed was, to put it mildly, not good for a vehicle's suspension, and if the fleet failed a lot of the Branwen's rapid response capability would go up in smoke.

Back when they'd started, they used to make do with Raven flying to the location of an attack and teleporting a strike force to the town or village, but that was always exhausting and taxing on her Aura.

There was also the issue that students were expected to board in school, and while he could just ask Raven for a portal, his movements would be severely curtailed by being in a team. There were Lone Wolf students, but those were always the last tenable member of a defunct team and more often than not those were folded into another team that had taken losses, by tradition he'd not be allowed to _start_ as a Lone Wolf.

So not for the first time he turned his back on the academy and set about searching. The city of Vacuo sat at the very center of the desert that comprised the majority of the Kingdom of Vacuo, it served as a hub for representatives of the countless tribes to meet and trade.

Searching in the desert Kingdom represented a special challenge as most tribes tended not to stay in one place for long, or they'd combine into a single larger tribe for as long as it was useful before fracturing back into smaller groups. And often the only way of learning of this would be to run into someone who had been present at the time and ask, running the risk of their information being outdated.

Still, it seemed that the Vytal festival was making things a little easier on him, as the city was even more crowded than the last time he'd been around. People flooding in to charter an airship to Vale or to enjoy the coming tournament in the relative comfort offered by Vacuo.

His side still ached, so it would be better not to brave the desert. As such he set about finding an inn or hotel to use as a base of operations. This took a while as most places were packed to the girders.

He did eventually find lodgings, but it was still vexing to run into such a simple delay. After that he spent the next several days wandering around. He spotted several girls with green eyes, but as had always been the case before, none were who he was looking for.

In the evening of his seventh day, he was sitting in the common room of the inn, the place was rowdier than usual, a large screen showing a match between two groups of trainee Huntsmen.

Going by the shouts and groans, one of the groups was from Shade. He put it out of his mind and concentrated on 'enjoying' a slice of gecko cake. The gecko meat was actually not bad, it had an interesting texture and was surprisingly sweet, but the almost imperceptible dusting of bitter sand on it rather ruined it. As the saying went, 'if you can't handle the local spice you don't belong in Vacuo' and Shirou would be happy to say that no, he most certainly did not.

He really did not mind the sand in most things—quite willing to endure it under almost all circumstances, but in the food? Really? Have some pride.

He idly wondered if he had a sword that could vanish sand, if so it would be extremely useful here. If the green eyed girl was from Vacuo, then she'd probably be amazed at how much better food was without sand in it. He wondered what kind of food she liked, maybe when he found her they could trade recipes?

Or talk about swords?

His scroll beeped and he pulled it out. An update from Raven on the enemy tribe, they had moved out of the Branwen's turf and didn't seem to be on an intercept course with anyone, that was good. Maybe they'd taken Vernal's words to heart.

Either way he should get Raven a thank you gift, problem being he was in Vacuo which last he checked did not have that fancy shampoo and conditioner that she liked. Maybe he could get her a shirt? One of those that said 'Vacuo, terrible place to visit, but you _really_ wouldn't wanna live here' might make her laugh…or punch him.

Either way she'd relieve some stress so it was a win-win.

A man sat down across from him with a heavy sigh, and Shirou's hands instinctively curled around the grips of swords that weren't there yet. He raised his eyes and met the crimson-eyed stare of Qrow Branwen.

Qrow gave him a cocky smirk. "You know, it's funny, I staked out that camp seemingly every other month, investigated every confirmed sighting, tracked down Raven a few times to try and wrangle some answers out of her.

"And of all times, I meet you in a little hole-in-the-wall tavern where I went to drink." His chuckle was loose gravel grinding together. "My luck isn't usually this good."

Shirou's scowl deepened. Qrow shouldn't be aware of who he actually was. Shirou was fairly confident that nobody had ever gotten a glimpse of his face. His clothes and armor, if anything, helped camouflage him; that style of armor and clothing was surprisingly popular for some reason.

That meant Qrow was fishing for information, looking for tells. Well, Shirou was no longer small and weak, so he was fairly certain he didn't need to worry about Qrow kidnapping him. But he didn't want to deal with Qrow; if he was as good as Raven then Shirou would not be able to beat him without severely maiming or killing him.

And that would make most of the women he cared about sad.

"What? Cat got your tongue?" Qrow groused and raised a hip flask to his lips.

There was nothing in his room that Shirou needed to retrieve. He'd paid for several more days but that would simply be a loss now that Qrow was here…or could he bluff the older man by pretending not to know him and simply staying in his room?

"Look kid, this conversation will advance faster if you respond," Qrow said flatly.

Shirou made up his mind; he'd play it safe and simply leave. According to Raven, Qrow was as crafty as he was alcoholic, so losing him in a crowd might be difficult, but Shirou only needed to break line of sight and bring out Carnwennan.

He stood up from the table, dropped enough lien to cover his tab and started to walk away.

He got three steps past Qrow when the man spoke.

"My boss can help you find that girl you're looking for."

Shirou froze.

That was a lie, it had to be; as Raven so elegantly put it, Ozpin had his hand so far up Qrow's ass the manipulator could move Qrow's lips for him. It was a ploy to get him to do as Ozpin wanted.

But what if it wasn't?

Slowly, almost against his will, he looked over his shoulder at Qrow who smirked back at him.

"Oh, so you_ do_ care."

=][=

Weiss Schnee walked next to her sister, her hands clasped demurely in front of her.

"Stand up straight!" Winter snapped. "How many times must I remind you about your posture!?"

"Right!" Weiss said standing straighter.

"Walk with more confidence! You're not a delicate little flower!"

"Sorry!"

"And stop apologizing!"

"Of course."

She could all but feel Winter's stare as she regarded her. "An improvement. So, tell me more about your team. Have you been getting along? How is the food at Beacon? Are you sleeping well? Have you acclimatized to the weather?"

Weiss felt her chest swell with pride. That had almost been a compliment! She also thoroughly ignored Ruby's confused and teasing grin. She opened her mouth to respond.

"Hey!" Weiss turned around at the shout and immediately spotted a disheveled man as he lazily tossed the severed head of an AK-200 in her direction. "Yeah! I'm talkin' to you, _Ice Queen!"_

Weiss stopped herself from grumbling, it would not do to act undignified in front of her sister. She saw Ruby standing stock still out of the corner of her eye and made her way to the miscreant.

She stood in front of him and stretched to her full height, and realized she shouldn't have gotten quite so close as he was able to loom over her without effort, but no matter!

"_Excuse you!?"_ she demanded in her most imperious tone. "Have you any idea who you're speaking to!?"

"Shuuuush sh sh shhhh," the man hushed, his breath stank so strongly of alcohol that a spark could have ignited it. "Not you."

He then unceremoniously shoved her aside. She stumbled a few steps as she regained her balance, and he stepped forward and glared at Winter. "You."

Weiss gathered her indignation as the scruffy man and her sister traded barbed words, and for the first time spotted a redheaded man standing behind scruffy. He like many others in his age group copied the Sword Hunter's utilitarian style, he stood with his arms crossed and tapped a foot impatiently against the ground.

As the argument between her sister and the drunkard escalated, the Huntsman behind the drunk rolled his eyes, and, in the blink of an eye, he was behind the drunk and hit him on the back of the head so hard that Scruffy was almost driven to the floor.

"You can flirt later," the Huntsman said exasperatedly. "You're wasting time."

"How dare you!?" Winter snarled as the drunk straightened and growled. "Now you listen here-!"

Whatever else he said was lost to her as the world suddenly blurred into a confusing mélange of colors, when the world made sense again she was on the grass outside school grounds and the landing pads were far away.

"OhmygoshWeissisMrSwordHunterwhaddoidoIshouldawornmyotherskirthowsmyhair!?" Ruby exclaimed in a series of sounds that approximated human speech.

Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose. "Ruby! Calm down!"

"Weiss! How can I calm down it's Mr. Sword Hunter and he came back oh my gosh!" Ruby continued, the unceasing babbling the only thing that gave her a break from hyperventilating.

"Deep breaths!"

"R-Right!" Ruby said, forcing herself to slow her breathing. "The guy! The guy behind my uncle Qrow!"

"Scruffy is your uncle?"

"Scruffy? Yes! He's my uncle Qrow! Taught me to fight! Unimportant! He brought Mr. Sword Hunter!"

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Ruby, we've never seen what the Sword Hunter looks like, and remember how hard he fought _not_ to meet with Ozpin? He'd not come willingly, he's probably just a Huntsman here to talk to the Headmaster."

"But we_ have_ met him Weiss! In the docks! When he punched Sun!"

Weiss blinked. "The guy with the angry bird pet?"

"Yes!" Ruby shouted and all but vibrated in excitement. "He's Mr. Sword Hunter! He had red hair, and his eyes shined gold in the light!"

"Ruby we met that guy _once_ and it was, what? Five months ago? Six? I don't remember what he looked like!"

"Not important! It's Mr. Sword Hunter! How's my hair? Do you think it's red enough?"

"I-?"

"Oh I _knew_ I shouldn't have let you guys talk me out of dying my hair!"

"Ruby-"

"Oh my gosh you're right! We're wasting time!" Ruby exclaimed and was gone in a puff of rose petals.

Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed, Ruby appeared next to her, grabbed her and said, "Weiss it's an emergency!"

The world once more became a sickening whirlpool for an instant and she was suddenly on the floor in a bush by the path to the Headmaster's tower.

"Ruby," Weiss grumbled, swallowing her bile. "If you drag me _one more time-_"

"Look!" Ruby whisper-yelled.

Weiss followed Ruby's trembling finger and saw the man that had punched Scruffy standing in front of Penny, using a finger on her chin to tilt her head up and look into the strange girl's eyes. He said something too softly for Weiss to hear.

"Well of course I'm nothing like her!" Penny answered with a radiant smile. "I'm like me!"

The two of them stared into each other's eyes for several seconds before he muttered something else, whatever it was, it caused Penny to gasp.

"I would _love_ to talk about swords!" she said excitedly.

"No fair!" Ruby grumbled trembling with fury. "_I_ want to talk with him about swords!"

"You_ could_ always tell Penny to introduce you," Weiss said as the man (who she absolutely refused to believe was the Sword Hunter) followed Scruffy towards the CCT tower with Winter behind him. She noticed her sister had a hand a little too casually on the grip of her sword.

He was going to cut into her time with Winter, who seemed to have forgotten all about Weiss. Yay.

Her scroll buzzed, she pulled it out and looked at it, and saw that Ruby had posted on the group chat their team used.

_'Emergency meeting! TO THE RWBY CAVE!'_

Weiss felt the overwhelming need to sigh.

_'Ruby,' _posted Blake, _'you can't call our dorm room the RWBY cave.'_

_'Yes I can!' _Ruby responded._ 'And the sooner you call it that the sooner it'll stick!'_

_'What's the CAVEat? I take it it's a STICKY situation? Eh? Eh? Man I'm on fire today.' _Yang as was her wont, ruined everything_._

'_You're horrible and you should be ashamed of yourself.' _Weiss answered, then put away her scroll. She looked up just in time to see Ruby's hand moving toward her.

"Ruby don't you _da-!_"

=][=

"So!" Ruby said, excitedly hopping about the dorm room after having explained to both her team and JNPR about Mr. Sword Hunter being in Beacon. "Those are the facts! The question is, where do we go from here!?"

There was a rather poignant silence. Jaune shifted awkwardly and snuck a few glances at Pyrrha, who gave Ruby a nervous smile as she scratched her cheek. Ren remained utterly inscrutable, while Nora looked worried.

Yang rested her chin on her hand and sighed exasperatedly, Weiss was pinching the bridge of her nose, and Blake was reading.

"Ruby," Yang said slowly. "There is _no way_ that's the Sword Hunter."

"Yang! Trust me it's totally him!" Ruby answered indignantly. "I can_ feel it!"_

"Ruby, you didn't stop tackle-hugging people wearing his outfit until a few months ago." Yang said.

Ruby felt her cheeks heating. "I-!"

"Wait," Jaune interrupted. "I was wearing an outfit like his when we first met, and I didn't get tackle-hugged."

"I…Jaune," Ruby said slowly. "That's because…you know…your, umm, Jauneness made it obvious you weren't Mr. Sword Hunter."

"My what in the how?"

"You know, your Jauneness…Your Jaunehood?" With every word his shoulders sagged a little further.

"His Jauneocity?" Blake put in, causing him to twitch as if he'd been stung.

"His Jaundice?" Nora proposed.

"How do you even know that word!?" Jaune demanded.

Pyrrha gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze, he looked at her hopefully.

"It's fine! I like your Jauneity!" Pyrrha said with a warm smile, sending her team leader to his knees with a strangled gasp.

"Damn," Yang muttered as Pyrrha apologized and tried to cheer Jaune up. "Wish I would have thought of that one."

"We're not here to discuss Jaune's Jauneousness!" Ruby exclaimed.

"We're still doing that!?" he cried out from the floor.

"Mr. Sword Hunter is here!" Ruby continued, ignoring her fellow team leader. "I-_We_ can apologize! And after he forgives m-_us_ I can bake him some cookies, we can chat, he can tell m-us all about his swords and hang out and spar and maybe invite him to the team and he'll pat my head and talk about swords and I'll meet his sisters and save towns together and talk about swords!"

Ruby took a very deep breath as she was feeling a little light-headed.

"Ruby," Yang said gently. "The Sword Hunter _wouldn't come here,_ not after he fought so hard to escape. This is a false positive on your Sword Hunter-dar."

"He is too! And I'll prove it!" Ruby shouted.

"I am rather curious as to how you plan to prove it," Ren admitted slowly.

Ruby smiled.

=][=

It had taken them a couple of hours skulking near the CCT tower, but Mr. Sword Hunter eventually left his meeting with the Headmaster. The problem being Ruby couldn't put her genius plan in effect because he was following Miss Goodwitch.

She was glad to see they had made up, until she had the thought that maybe he preferred older and curvier women, and then she fervently hoped they didn't particularly like one another.

Teams RWBY and JNPR followed stealthily after them, meaning Blake followed after them and relayed instructions while Ruby tried to keep Weiss and Yang quiet. Jaune, Ren and Pyrrha did the same with Nora.

They followed them to the room he was assigned, which happened to be right next to team CRDL, which was totally unfair but a little understandable what with the Incident. After that it was only a matter of hiding from Miss Goodwitch. The moment she was gone, Ruby put her flawless plan in motion!

Flawless plan A: knock on his door and ask! She gave everyone her best smug look, walked to his door, took a deep breath and knocked. Now! After all this time! She'd get to hang out with her hero for real! And they'll talk about swords, and he'll pat her head and tell her she's cute. They'll play Kung-Fu Ninja Slayer Ultimate Death Battle, and she'll bake him cookies, and the way to a man's heart was through his stomach which made perfect sense because with a long curved weapon like Crescent Rose the lower angle would allow her to bypass the ribs. And he'll introduce her to his parents and they'll hit it off great and they'll spar and maybe go to a weapon's shop holding hands…

Huh, why was her heart hammering against her chest hard enough that she could almost feel it vibrating her ribs? And had someone turned the heater up?

"Excuse me? Hello?"

Ruby jumped with a squeak, when had the door opened!? Stealthy little portals those doors! How dare they open sneakily on silent hinges!

"Can I help you?" asked the man that was totally Mr. Sword Hunter.

Ruby blinked, her face felt really hot, she forgot to change to her other skirt! Too late! The foolish plans of mice and Huntresses to be! She looked at his face, with his chiseled chin and strong cheekbones and manly furrowed brow, and his concerned amber eyes with those unfairly long eyelashes, and his artfully messy hair, and his lips…

What was she doing again? Why was looking at him without the mask so difficult?

"Are…are you feeling unwell?" he asked with clear concern in his voice. "You're awfully red…"

In truth, Ruby was feeling a little itsy bitsy dizzy. She opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again, closed it, raised a finger, opened her mouth, blinked twice, and managed to squeak. "Eep."

And escaped in a burst of rose petals. She collapsed somewhere and tried to inhale, but her lungs were already full, and she realized for the first time she had been holding her breath the entire time.

Mr. Sword Hunter you sly fox! She should have known that he'd be too formidable an opponent to oust so easily! Time to move on to flawless plan A-2.0!

Step one, come up with plan B!

She became aware of people around her, and looked up to see Yang.

"Okay, not gonna lie," her traitor of a sister said with the biggest grin. "I'm _so_ glad you dragged me out here."

Ruby got to her feet on shaky legs. "Plans do not survive contact with the first arrow is loosed!"

"I think you got a few proverbs mixed up, Ruby." Weiss said, clearly trying and failing to suppress a smirk.

"Doesn't matter!" Ruby groused. "Assemble the army! We must move on to plan B!"

"Yeah sure, what's plan B?"

Ruby grinned.

=][=

Ruby and company skulked along after Mr. Sword Hunter as he walked through the school grounds. He drew more than a few stares but so far nobody had gone up to him, probably because he was arguing with someone on the phone. In Ruby's expert opinion, she'd put her lien on it being one of his sisters, he had the distinct look of being nagged at by an older sibling.

"Look yes, I…yes I…Will you let m…" He sighed dejectedly. "Yes…mmhmm…yes. Look I know-! I-! But-! Look all I ask is that you brew her favorite tea!"

Looks like even Mr. Sword Hunter had it hard.

"Yes I know she'll be livid! That's why I want you to make her favorite tea! That way she'll be a little more relaxed!" He stopped to lean against a tree and waited for a few seconds. "Hmm…you're right she might be even more angry thanks to having been in a good mood…Still I think the benefits outwei-Yes I'm counting on you to help!

"…If you help me I'll let you dictate the menu for a whole week." He absently caught a baseball that flew at his head and tossed it back ignoring the shouted apology of the boys that were playing, then continued his conversation as if nothing had happened. "You hesitated."

Whoever he was talking to got surprisingly loud. She turned to Yang who was carrying a cage, only a pair of evil red eyes visible from within it.

"You know," Pyrrha said quietly. "I can't help but think that maybe this is going a bit far."

"It'll be fine!" Ruby said. "Mr. Sword Hunter will just shoot it with swords!"

"Actually Ruby," Weiss said. "I'm with Pyrrha on this one, we _really_ shouldn-"

Ruby removed the lock on the cage, and Yang tossed the contents out and they retreated, dragging the two teams with them.

The Boarbatusk that had been trapped in the cage picked itself up from the ground where it had fallen, shook itself, and concentrated on the nearest source of negative emotion. Which, to Ruby's horror, did not seem to be Mr. Sword Hunter, but a student who was staring at the floor on a nearby bench and had failed to even notice the Grimm that had just been released onto the cobblestone path.

On second thought, this second plan was not nearly as well thought out as she had at first assumed. She readied her 'Flawless Plan A-2.0-B Emergency Abort.' Otherwise known as Rosethorn.

The Boarbatusk took a single step forward but before Ruby could put a 10 gauge shotgun slug through the Grimm's head, a baseball rebounded off its bony carapace, and it turned its four malevolent eyes toward the one who attacked it. Which was none other than Mr. Sword Hunter who continued his conversation with whoever was on the other side of the scroll. "So we agree? Two weeks where you dictate the menu _and_ I'll do your chores for you for a whole week."

The Boarbatusk grunted and charged. Yes! This was it! Mr. Sword Hunter would summon a sword and kill the Grimm!

"Now you are just being greedy," he admonished, seemingly paying no attention to the charging Grimm as it bore down on him. "If you want me to do your chores for two whole weeks then you'll have to be present when I explain to her where I am."

An instant before the Boarbatusk gored him, he took a single step to the side and the Grimm slammed full force against the tree, where it got stuck fast. It roared and threw its body from side to side, but no matter how hard it struggled it was unable to free itself. "Okay I agree that two weeks is not enough for my last demand."

He cocked his leg close to his hip before driving it into the side of the Grimm's head with a palpable shockwave. The Grimm's tusks snapped with a loud report as it was sent careening off.

"Well, it's your fault for being greedy!" As he admonished whoever he was speaking to, he took hold of one of the Grimm's tusks and yanked it out of the tree, strode forward, and drove it point-first through the Boarbatusk's forehead as it tried to rise. The pig Grimm fell back to the ground and began to dissipate immediately.

Mr. Sword Hunter started to walk away, seemingly unaware of the incredulous looks of all who had witnessed the near-instant defeat of the Boarbatusk. "Then we're agreed, just spoil her a little. Make sure she's in a good mood, and I'll deal with the consequences of my incredibly stupid actions when I give her a call and tell her where I am, we good?"

Ruby closed her mouth, just why was it that Mr. Sword Hunter was refusing to use swords!?

"Okay, he is _definitely_ a Huntsman," Blake whispered, which coming from her was high praise indeed. "But I still don't think he's the Sword Hunter."

"Yeah, he's not even carrying a sword!" Weiss grumbled.

Ruby puffed her cheeks in anger. "Of course he's not carrying a sword, silly! He _makes_ swords! Now come on! We need to prepare the next plan!"

"Hey, do you guys think Professor Port will realize he's missing a Boarbatusk?" Ren asked.

"Not important!"

=][=

To think it had come to this. To think he would force Ruby's hand to this extent. To think she would be forced to abandon all honor purely to prove he is who he is!

Mr. Sword Hunter had walked around Beacon for an hour before coming back to the dorms. He was currently sitting in the kitchen of the common's area scowling down at his scroll. Darn him but he cut quite the figure just sitting there with that scowl. He gave off an aura of…the dark and mysterious Huntsman who brooded over the streets of Vale as he contemplated the nature of the evil he sought to stop.

Thinking of which, was the latest issue out? With all the excitement of the Vytal festival she'd kind of forgotten to keep track of The Huntsman's release schedule.

"Ruby, why are we here?" Weiss asked.

"Well…that's one of life's great mysteries, isn't it, Weiss?" Ruby said in her best The Huntsman growl. "Why _are_ we here? Are we the result of some great comic coincidence? Or is there a greater Destiny dictating our actions?"

"Okay, what." Weiss stated in a shocked tone.

"Did…you mean to say 'cosmic'?" Ren asked.

"But anyways!" Ruby continued in her usual cheerful tone. "Behold, the Fool Proof Plan A-3.0-B-2.0-C!"

"Why does the plan have so many suffixes?" Jaune asked and was promptly ignored.

"Blake," Ruby whispered holding out her hand, "give me _the test."_

She felt the weight of the Pickle Jar settle in her palm. "Now, watch the _master actress_ at work!"

She took a few moments to psyche herself up, took a deep breath, and strode confidently into the kitchen.

"Ooooh nooooooo!" she said as dramatically as she could. "I'm so hungry! But the lid of the Pickle Jar is so tight!"

She tried to open it and twirled in place. "If only _someone_ could _cut it open_ with a _**swooooooord?"**_

"There is _no way_ this will work," Weiss whispered from the door, stupid Weiss!

"I mean, you never know?" Pyrrha muttered, good job Pyrrha! Ruby knew she liked the redhead for a reason! Wait, Mr. Sword Hunter liked redheads right? Was Pyrrha too dangerous to keep around?

Mr. Sword Hunter looked in her direction, his scowl easing slightly as he blinked at her in confusion. Ruby felt her cheeks heating so she did another twirl and gave the lid another twist, and failed to open it.

"Big sister senses…tingling!" Yang mumbled from the door. "Gah! Why do you do this to me, Ruby!?"

Mr. Sword Hunter stood up, yes! He was going to help! He was going to do the thing!

He walked over to her and held his hand out. Oh right, _everyone_ tried to open the Pickle Jar at first. But _nobody_ ever succeeded. Ruby had to slash it open with Crescent Rose, her dad usually had to get a wrench and drop kick it, and Yang used Ember Celica to blast it open.

He gripped the jar with one hand and the lid with the other.

Mr. Sword Hunter was obviously super strong, but not even Sun with his super abs was strong enough to defeat the mighty Pickle Jar!

The tendons of his hand stood starkly against his skin.

Yes! He'd unfortunately fail but there would be no shame in that! And then since he didn't have a sword, he'd have to make one in order to slash the jar open! And she'd finally get a good look at one of his swords!

The jar opened with a loud _'pop!'_

Ruby blinked.

The jar was open.

She blinked again.

Mr. Sword Hunter held the jar out to her, and she absently took it. He nodded at her, walked back to his chair, and sat down and scowled at his scroll again.

In a daze, Ruby left the kitchen looking down at the jar, she absently took out a pickle. "Huh…not what I expected would happen. He has really strong hands."

"That's inhuman," Yang said, her voice full of anger, shame, and envy. "Inhuman!"

Ren pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, Jaune looked confused, Blake and Weiss bored, Pyrrha surprised, and Nora…

"Can I have a pickle?"

=][=

Ruby slowly climbed the stairs to the roof of the dorms, the light of the moon streaming in through the open door at the top. All of her masterfully wrought plans had failed. The good news was that the cats would eventually regrow most of their fur. Eventually. Probably.

Everyone had abandoned her, her army routed, citing such treasonous reasons as 'studying' and 'preparing for their upcoming match,' but no matter! Ruby was still strong in her conviction!

As she was about to step outside, she heard his voice float in through the door. She rushed to hide beside the door and peeked through it.

He stood there with his back to her, his outline contrasted starkly against the moon, a cool breeze ruffled his hair and combat skirt (because no matter what Jaune said that was not a waist cape that's a combat skirt!). He held his scroll to his ear as whoever was on the other end of the call spoke so loudly that her voice could be heard as an angry buzzing, not unlike a rapierwasp's. Could this be another of his sisters?

"I already said I'm sorry!" he whined, it was very strange for her to hear her Hero whine. "…No being sorry does not mean I would change what I did given the chance.

"No! Not changing what I did doesn't mean I'm not sorry! It means I'm unrepentant!" He began to pace back and forth. "Look I'll make it up to you!... I don't know, _somehow…_I do_ not_ need you nagging at me right now!"

Definitely his mom.

He stopped pacing and sighed. "Look, I'm sorry but I've never had the chance to look around in Beacon before, what if…" He was interrupted by angry buzzing and seemed to deflate. "No, I haven't…No…No…yeah…look I know, alright!? You don't have to tell me!"

Not had a chance to look around Beacon? Had Mr. Sword Hunter wanted to come study to Beacon and been stopped? Well, Ruby would have to fix that!...Somehow.

"No, I don't need you to come get me!" Mr. Sword Hunter shrieked in a most manly and mature fashion, Ruby convinced herself that he most certainly did not sound like he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar again after dad told him not to ruin his appetite and got punished with no more cookies until the weekend which was two whole days away. "I have everything under control! I can leave whenever I want to!…_No, I don't sound like Flaxen!"_

Ruby did not know what a Flaxen was, but it sounded just like uncle Qrow.

The voice on the other end of the call began to nag, and Mr. Sword Hunter began to nod, answer yes, and deflate all at the same time. By the time the nagging finished he was on his knees trailing his finger in a circle on the ground. The voice on the call paused then buzzed amusedly.

"'M not sulking," he muttered sulkily, causing Ruby's heart to nearly burst.

The voice nagged for a while longer before he chuckled and said, "Love you too, mom."

Out of nowhere a cushion flew into the side of his head hard enough to send him reeling.

"Really!?" he grumbled into his scroll as he tossed the cushion in the direction it came from. _"Really?_ You could have knocked me off the roof!..._ No, that doesn't sound like a personal problem!"_

He grumbled some more before saying his goodbyes and ending the call. He put away his scroll and sighed. Running a hand through his hair, he tensed momentarily before muttering something about paying attention, then turned and looked right at Ruby, who squeaked and ducked back through the door.

"Might as well come on out, Ruby," he invited with a chuckle. She stepped out with a nervous laugh and waved. He gave her a reassuring smile and turned back around to stare into the moon.

She stepped up to him, her heart thundering in her chest. How had he known she was there? Well he was Mr. Sword Hunter, _of course_ he knew she was there. She took a deep breath and had to try three times before her voice would work.

"E-Excuse me?" she began tentatively, and he turned to look at her. She gulped and continued, trying and failing to keep her voice from cracking, "I…I l-lost my magic knife, can I have another?"

He tilted his head a little to the side, raised a hand and with a flash of light a wooden toy knife flashed into being in his hand.

"Mr. Sword Hunter!" she squealed and tackle-hugged him hard enough to make him stagger back a few steps. "Please tell me your name!"

"Hey Ruby, " he said with a good natured chuckle as he gently patted her head. The combination of his voice vibrating his chest and his strokes of her hair making her brain feel like it was melting. "I told you I'm not important."

"Tell me anyway, " she demanded into his chest.

He sighed. "My name is Shirou."

She tightened her hold so much that he grunted as she squeezed the air out of his lungs. After ten years she finally knew his face and had a name to put to that face.

She decided then and there, that those two things were far better than an autograph.


	16. Chapter 14

'Nother Saturday 'nother upload.

To the few guest reviewers that were asking if I missed an update date? Guuuuys, I have a WHOLE SATURDAY to work with. I'm just sayin' =c=

If you're wondering why those reviews questioning a missed update aren't showing up? I have the ability to moderate guest reviews, and those honestly don't serve a purpose.

Be like that guy that was the Obi-Wan to my Darth Vader. Those I fast track. 8D

That I usually upload it in the wee-hours of the morning don't mean I can't use Saturday as a whole!

In other news. Remember I mentioned I accidentally a competition and ended up with first place? Well I got my prize!

Ruby's pickle scene from last chapter is now immortalized in manga form. Look up Alex-kellar in deviant art. You should be able to find it easily enough. I read harder every time I look at it.

As to the chapter itself! I'm probably gonna get a few people telling me I'm doing Ironwood too one-dimensional, and if that's how you interpret it, then you've got that right brah. Your interpretation is your own.

But maybe keep in mind that there might be stuff happening in the background? Juuust mebbe? Anyways keep an open mind, have I disappointed yet? Don't answer that.

Surprised at the flak I got for Shirou showing up at Beacon. But eh, it let me do the pickle scene, so I am objectively in the right.

The pickle scene is justice.

Anyways here's the next chapter! This one was a doozy to write, two of the scenes gave me particular trouble, sometimes I wonder if I'm too mean...poor Yang. ._.

Heads up when I finish this arc I'm probably gonna put this story on hiatus for a lil' while so I can write up a buffer.

Or maybe start that other thing I was working on before I started this story and it ballooned out of my control.

_Shakes fist at Alex-kellar_. Look at what you make me do! I blame you for this!

Anyways enough of my rambling I'm going to waste some of my time putting together angry Space Men with guns.

If you like the chapter, drop me a review and let me know why. Them positive reinforcement is one of the things that keeps a guy writing.

If you didn't like the chapter/story? Well...Nothing really I can do about that. But drop me a review and let me know what in specific is the issue if you'd be so kind.

Or don't, I'm not the boss of you.

But seriously review.

I'm also considering putting this up in Space Battles. Humuuu.

The snippet, it be strategery. (งಠ_ಠ)ง

=][=

Qrow scrolled through the Huntsman forums he frequented. A bunch of Mistralean Huntsmen were going crazy because an entire tribe of bandits had been subdued and turned in for bounty money, a fairly infamous bunch of lowlifes at that.

And the ones to apprehend the Karmesinweg were none other than the Branwens.

He read through post after post, a lot of them exulting the Branwens for culling Grimm in their region and regular patrols.

Qrow blinked. This was the seventh bandit tribe the Branwens had subdued and brought in for incarceration? His former 'family' had become legitimate protectors of the peace? What the living hell is wrong with them? Just what the hell is Raven up to? Since when does she give a rat's ass about anything or anyone other than herself?

He could have sworn it was just a run of the mill protection racket, but Raven actually had her group of lowlifes protecting people?

"And how exactly do you propose we do that James!?" Glynda shouted. Oh right, that was happening.

Qrow put away his scroll and pulled out his hip flask. He sloshed the liquid in it to gauge how much he had left, and preemptively prepared his other hipflask. His other _other_ hipflask already sat sad and empty in one of his pockets. If their shouting match went on much longer he might actually run out.

"Did you forget, Glynda," Jamesy growled. "That I am not only a member of the Atlas council, but commander in chief of the Atlas military? I am sure that with enough manpower we'll—"

"He doesn't even remember what she looked like!" Glynda all but shrieked. "Not to mention that if by some miracle you 'secure' her as you said, all you'll achieve is to put him on a warpath! He'll assume, rightly I might add, that you will be trying to hold this girl of his hostage in order to control him! It was already next to impossible to convince him to stay in Beacon for a few days, if you start a manhunt for this girl of his it'll just convince him that we are his enemies!"

"We don't need him to trust us," James whispered. "All we really need is for him to do as we say."

"_So you'd stoop to blackmail!?" _Glynda screeched. Qrow had to hand it to the woman, she had a good pair of lungs in her.

"You have seen how potent he is," James said in a low voice. "If we can gain control of him, we'll have an unrivaled weapon against—"

"The ends do not justify the means, James!"

"It would be better than continuing to let him run around like a headless chicken! Imagine the progress we could make if he were to work for us!"

Qrow and Ozpin turned from one to the other as they argued, not unlike following the tennis ball in a match. They'd rehashed the same argument with different words for the last two hours.

"Glynda, James, perhaps we should discuss something else for a short while?" Ozpin's quiet request silenced the two loudmouths instantly, which was good because that allowed Qrow to get a drink in peace and quiet. Ozpin raised his cup and sipped from it. "For example, any ideas on how we could begin to undo the damage Raven has caused?"

Glynda and James both grimaced. Qrow snorted.

"Something on your mind, Qrow?" Ozpin asked, pointing at him with the rim of his cup.

"Yeah, you're better off not chasing a lost cause," Qrow said with a shrug and raised his hip flask to his lips.

"Surely there's something we c—"

"He spent the entire time he was speaking to us in one fighting stance or another," Qrow snapped, causing the corner of Glynda's mouth to turn down deepening her grimace. "He zeroed in on _you_ Oz, every time you so much as shifted your weight he was ready to skewer you. Glynda, Jamey and I, he all but ignored as far as hostility went, but _you_ he looked ready to strike down if you so much as breathed wrong.

"My _dear_ sister has done her work quite well. He'd as soon stab you as listen to you, and he won't pay attention to anything any of _us_ say because he'll assume you're the one talking through us." Qrow brought his hip flask to his lips, ignoring Glynda's frown of distaste. "So give up on the idiot kid and move on. Or hell, try telling him all about Salem, if we're lucky he'll run off and go kill her for us."

A heavy silence followed as Glynda glared out the widow and James found himself nodding along. Qrow brought his hip flask to his lips, only to find it empty, so he put it away in the pocket with the other empty and brought out his last flask.

Ozpin gave a long-suffering sigh. "Thank you for your candidness, Qrow, but I refuse to believe the situation is entirely unsalvageable. Actions speak louder than words, so I believe we might make some headway by offering our services to him in his search. Perhaps we could offer him a Huntsman license."

"Without any of the proper schooling?" Glynda demanded.

James stroked his chin and began pacing. "He _has_ proven to be quite adept at battling the Grimm."

"There is more to being a Huntsman than killing Grimm!"

"But if we legitimize the Sword Hunter…"

As the trio of optimistic idiots descended once more into bickering, Qrow went back to his scroll, squinting at it to try and get the letters to focus and stop swaying about annoyingly. He tried taking another drink but that only made it worse.

Stupid Sword Hunter and stupid Raven for keeping him secret, and stupid Branwens for turning into lawmen because _that's_ bound to end badly and most of all, stupid—

"Qrow!" Ozpin's voice interrupted Qrow's litany.

He blinked and looked up from his scroll. "Wha?"

"I asked you why you'd never come forward with the fact that you knew what the Swo-Shirou looked like?" Ozpin repeated calmly.

"That's cause I had no bloody idea what the kid looked like," Qrow answered.

"Wait," Glynda said with a frown. "Then how did you recognize him to bring him here?"

Qrow shrugged. "I didn't. I merely walked up to the kid and tried to get a rise out of him. When that didn't work I said Oz could help him find his girl."

"If you don't mind my asking, Qrow, how did you know he was looking for a green-eyed girl?" Ozpin asked slowly.

"The video from ten years ago, there's one bit where he looks past the camera and says 'not her,'" he answered with a shrug. "So, shot in the dark, he's looking for a girl."

"But how did you know to ask Shirou in particular?" Ozpin pressed.

Qrow sighed. "Oz, I've said that phrase to everyone I saw wearing his outfit for the last ten Godsdamned years."

Their eyes all widened in surprise, and Qrow brought his hip flask to his lips. "Seriously sometimes I feel like you don't appreciate how hard I work."

And with that, he'd had enough of their meeting and made his way to the elevator.

=][=

"I'm telling you guys he _is_ Mr. Sword Hunter! He made me another magic knife!" Ruby said, excitedly bouncing around the dorm room.

She had been insufferable since she woke up. Weiss sighed and finished brushing her hair, and began to put it up on its customary off-center ponytail.

"Look! This is the new magic knife!" She said, brandishing the same toy knife she'd refused to part with since the Sword Hunter stopped the breach.

"Rubes, that looks exactly the same," Yang said exasperatedly. "Show us both together and we'll believe you."

Ruby's cheeks turned bright red and she started poking her index fingers together. "Weeeeeeeell, turnsoutthemagicknifedisappearsifyouaskMrSwordHuntertomakeanothercauseyoulostyoursImmagofindhimberightback!"

And she disappeared in a burst of rose petals.

Weiss prepared her perfume, Yang started brushing her hair, and Blake turned a page in her book. Probably porn again.

Ruby reappeared in a burst of rose petals and wailed. "Guys it's an emergency! Shirou is gone!"

"Who?" Weiss asked.

"Mr. Sword Hunter! He's gone! I went to knock at his door and it was unlockedsoIopeneditandhewasntinhisroom!"

"Ruby," Blake sighed. "Slow down."

Ruby took several deep breaths. "R-Right! So I went to ask Shirou to come over and prove he is Mr. Sword Hunter but I knockedonhisdoo—"

Weiss put a hand over Ruby's mouth.

"So there is a guy named Shirou. I assume he's the guy we were following all day yesterday," Weiss stated.

Ruby nodded.

"You say he is the Sword Hunter."

Ruby nodded again.

"You went to his room to ask him to prove it."

Ruby nodded harder.

"He wasn't in his room when you knocked."

Ruby nodded so hard Weiss was having difficulty keeping her hand pressed against Ruby's mouth.

"Ruby, it's early in the day. Have you thought that maybe he jogs in the morning? Or maybe he went to get breakfast?" Weiss asked.

By the widening of Ruby's eyes followed immediately by a hug and babbling about being so incredibly smart, Weiss would be forced to guess that no, her fearless leader had _not_ thought about that very simple and likely possibility.

And just as quick as the hug had begun, it was over and Ruby was gone in another puff of rose petals. Weiss sighed and sprayed on her perfume, Yang continued brushing her hair, Blake turned a page.

Ruby reappeared in a puff of rose petals. "Guys! He's in the cafeteria! _Sitting in our spot! _Mr. Sword Hunter is at our table! How awesome is that!?"

"Ruby," Yang said with a sigh. "If you're so excited about it, why don't you go talk to him?"

Ruby's face got very, very red. She clasped her hands demurely behind her back, started fidgeting and digging the toe of her boot on the floor.

"W-Well…I uhh…I was hoping you guys would come with me and…we could…chat with him? A bit?" Ruby muttered. "I talked with him a little last night and I was kinda hoping you guys would…you know…chat with him too?"

Weiss rolled her eyes, stood up and walked past Ruby. "Well come on, let's go have breakfast."

Weiss ignored Ruby's squeal and blabbering at the rest of her team to get them to breakfast. They made their way to the cafeteria where she saw the redheaded man from the day before sitting at their table, scowling at a plate of eggs and bacon.

He was drawing several curious looks, as he was clearly not a student, but something about his bearing said he wasn't your average Sword Hunter fan. Then again if Ruby was by some miracle correct, he _was_ the Sword Hunter, so on the off chance that was the case, she guessed that made sense.

They got their food and made their way to their table, he glanced up at them briefly before returning his scowl to his plate.

Ruby zipped to the spot next to him, sitting almost shoulder to shoulder with him and said, "Hi."

He blinked at her and absently patted her hair. "Good morning, Ruby."

As Ruby began scarfing down her plate of cookies, the man (Shirou, Weiss supposed) scowled at her. "Is that all you eat for breakfast?"

Ruby choked on her seventh cookie and made a noise that could charitably be considered an affirmative.

"That's not good, come on," he said as he stood up, dragging Ruby off by the hand as she squealed about her cookies.

Weiss watched in fascination as this Shirou put together a much better, much more nutritionally balanced breakfast and returned with Ruby to their table.

He slid the cookies away before Ruby could take another one. "You can have more in the evening."

"But they won't be as tasty then!" Ruby whined.

"No buts," he said tonelessly.

Then, to Weiss' horrified incredulity, Ruby began to sullenly eat the first healthy breakfast in the nine or so months that Weiss had known her. Stealing a look at Yang showed her to have a…complex expression.

Half astonishment, half indignation and half envy. With a few fractions of fear and horror thrown in. Even Blake had put her book down!

"Hi guys!" Nora said, slamming her tray down on the table, causing all of them except Shirou to jump.

"Nora," Ren chided gently, "it's rude to startle people."

As always, Ren was much too lenient.

"She's not_ that_ bad," Pyrrha said with a small laugh.

Well…Weiss supposed that getting startled every now and then was not _that_ bad. It could even be good for one's circulation.

"H-Hey," Jaune muttered, acting much more demure than usual.

"Morning Jaune!" Ruby called happily, then sighed dejectedly when Shirou gently took hold of the hand she'd tried to sneak to a plate of cookies.

"A question, if I may," Shirou said when JNPR sat down.

"Uhh…sure?" Jaune said slowly.

"Why did the eight of you stalk me all day yesterday?" he asked, causing Weiss to snort some juice up her nose. "Also, you should not release a Grimm in a crowded area, that could have been dangerous."

Ruby made herself as small as she could as the rest of them fidgeted.

Jaune cleared his throat. "W-Well see…I uhh…you see Ruby said that—"

"You can't blame it all on me!" Ruby immediately interrupted, and jumped when Shirou put a hand on top of her head.

"I'm not mad Ruby, I am, however, somewhat disappointed," he said, causing Ruby to flinch. "But maybe you had a good reason, so I'll reserve judgement until I've heard it."

Ruby mumbled something unintelligible as she poked her index fingers together. Weiss once more questioned why she just allowed herself to be swept up into Ruby's rhythm more often than not.

"W-Well…you see," Jaune began.

Yang crossed her arms and huffed. "Ruby said you were the Sword Hunter, and we were trying to trick you into proving who you were by making you throw a sword at something."

Shirou blinked, his scowl deepening. "You know you could have just asked."

Yang shrugged angrily.

He sighed and went back to poking absently at his food. "I've never liked that title anyway. My name is Shirou. I'm not particularly important. It's nice to properly meet you, Yang."

Weiss blinked…had he just…he_ had_ just…hadn't he?

"Wait," Jaune whispered, his face white as a sheet, "are you saying you're…t-t-…you're…t-t-t-the Sword Hunter?"

Shirou's scowl deepened. He turned his left palm up and a butter knife appeared into his grip with a muted blue flash. "I did just mention I don't care for that title. Please use my name."

Ruby beamed in a most smug manner at everyone sitting at the table. Weiss realized her mouth was hanging open in a most inelegant manner and closed it with a 'click.'

She wondered what to say, should she start with an apology? Yes she had been following orders, but the fact remained she had been more…zealous than strictly necessary.

As Weiss finally settled on what to say, Jaune fainted dead away.

=][=

"And this is the Workshop!" Ruby said excitedly as she pulled her idol around by the wrist.

Blake huffed in annoyance, so far Ruby had taken the Sw-Shirou around 'the best sights in all of Beacon.' Which according to her fearless leader were the sparring room, the shooting range, and now the workshop.

Ruby had something of a one-track mind.

Blake had merely found herself following out of curiosity. Here was this man, Remnant's greatest enigma, believed by many to be a hero, believed by others to be a selfish coward, but undeniably one of the most dangerous people in the world.

And so far he had been content to let Ruby pull him around and scowl at everything. Maybe he just had a soft spot for their quirky leader?

Blake looked to her teammate Weiss to her left, and Jaune and Pyrrha to her right. The four of them following after Ruby and Shirou like a troop of ducklings. Yang, Ren and Nora had excused themselves before breakfast was even finished.

"I just don't understand. He isn't…" Weiss waved her hands vaguely in his direction. "You know?"

"Not what you expected?" Blake asked.

"Exactly! I thought that him acting so casually with us after the Breach, before we…you know. I thought that was just to put us at ease. I thought he'd be…I don't know, more assertive? More dignified?"

"I think I know what you mean…" Jaune said slowly.

"Jaune, are you…alright?" Pyrrha whispered, slowly reaching a hand out to his shoulder before pulling back.

Jaune sighed. "Yeah I guess…I dunno, the Sword Hunter has always been something of a…I dunno, forget I said anything."

"Oh! And you _totally_ need to see the coliseum! It's so cool! And it floats!" Ruby swept past them like a storm. Shirou trotting to keep up.

Jaune took a deep breath. "Excuse me! Sw-ahem!-Shirou?"

Ruby did a 180 turn and brought Shirou stumbling to a halt next to Jaune.

"Yes?" he asked distractedly while rolling his shoulder.

Jaune had a 'Deer in the headlights' look as he tried and failed to meet Shirou's scowl.

"I uhh…you see, I was wondering…" Jaune spoke in a breathy whisper. "I-I mean, if it's not too much trouble for you to tell of course, cause you don't have to say anything if you don't want to I mean. The thing I was wondering was if umm…if you'd uhhh…"

"Yes?" Shirou prompted when Jaune tailed off, his scowl unchanged…yet Blake could not feel any annoyance or hostility from him, maybe he was one of those people that looked angry all the time?

"H-H-How long do you plan to stay in Beacon? Sir? If you don't mind my asking?" Jaune squeaked. "A-Actually forget I asked you probably have better things to do than answer dumb questions fr—"

"I'll probably leave this evening, tomorrow at the latest." He answered easily enough, eliciting a strangled gasp from Ruby.

"But we haven't even gotten to talk about swords yet!" she whined piteously.

He blinked down at her, his scowl easing slightly. "Do you want to talk about swords?"

"YES!" Ruby screeched, and they both disappeared in a burst of rose petals.

Weiss shivered and muttered, "At least she didn't do it to me this time…"

Knowing Ruby, she was at their dorm room. With a sigh, Blake pulled out her scroll and frowned as she looked at the time. "Don't your double matches start soon?"

"Eh? Oh right! I should be going over my strategy with Yang!" Weiss said with wide eyed horror and took off running. "I completely forgot about that!"

Jaune's face was somewhere between proud and shellshocked. Pyrrha gave his shoulder a squeeze. "We should also go get ready for our match, Jaune."

"Eh? Oh…right Pyr, we should probably get going," he said distractedly and let himself be pulled along by his partner.

Blake stood at the door to the workshop trying to decide if she felt lonely. With a firm shake of her head, she decided she wasn't and started on her way back to her dorm room.

She spotted Yang on the way, her partner stalking through a courtyard. By the look on Yang's face, she was either about to kill someone, or cry.

Perhaps both.

Blake ran to catch up. "Yang!"

Yang stopped and looked over her shoulder at Blake, her eyes a vibrant red.

"Woah there!" Blake said, raising her hands in a placating gesture. "Yang, you alright?"

Yang closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her shoulders slumped and when she opened them again, they had gone back to their natural lilac. "Hey, Blake. Sorry I uhh…sorry."

Blake approached carefully and put a hand on Yang's shoulder. "You okay?"

Yang gave her a tremulous smile and opened her mouth, the lie plain on her face. She closed her mouth, screwed her eyes shut and brought a hand up to her forehead. "I…I don't think I am."

"It's about the Sw-Shirou, isn't it? About his connection to your…past?" Blake asked slowly.

Yang nodded.

"If you don't mind my asking…why haven't you asked him yet?"

Yang took a deep breath, opened her mouth, failed to make a sound, closed her mouth, opened it again, exhaled, closed her mouth, inhaled deeply, and after taking a few seconds to collect herself, began speaking in a low tone. "I…I…W-What if…what if it's best that I don't know?"

Blake felt her cat ears stand on end. "W-What?"

Yang shrugged out from under Blake's arm and started pacing, the strain in her voice making it obvious she wanted to be shouting. "I mean…you saw, right? She's _working with the friking Sword Hunter!_ What if…what if there's some…some big secret mission and she is his handler, what if she's out there helping him keep people safe? What if she _didn't_ abandon me, but left me behind so she could concentrate on her work?"

The more she talked, the quieter her voice became until she was whispering. "What if…what if by confronting him…by demanding answers, I ruin everything? What if she was distancing herself all along to keep me safe from…from whatever she's fighting? And she sent him to keep an eye on me and Ruby? To keep us safe because if she did it she might put me in danger? What if that's why he didn't answer my questions back then?

"What if...what if I've been wrong all along? I swore to myself that when I met her I would punch her teeth in for abandoning me and Dad! But…but what if I've been wrong all this time? What if…by demanding to meet her, to _talk_ to her, I'll be spitting on her sacrifice?" She finally stopped pacing and looked at Blake, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. "But what if I want to anyways? Knowing that I might ruin everything?"

Blake drew the taller girl into a tight hug that Yang desperately returned, her entire body trembling.

Blake began to rub slow circles on Yang's back. "Yang, if that were the case, why would she have fought him to take him away from the train?"

"I don't know!" Yang wailed with a wet cough. "And it's killing me! But…But what if…"

"Shhhh," Blake soothed and tightened her hug. She waited until Yang had cried herself out and devolved into hiccups. Blake took a deep breath. "It'll be fine, you'll ask him or you won't. Whichever you choose, you'll be fine. I know you'll be fine."

"And," Yang hiccupped, "how's that?"

"Because," Blake said, patting Yang's back, "you are the cranky, violent idiot we all know and love. You are going to make a bad pun and go find Weiss, she's probably panicking because you haven't shown up yet, and together you're going to knock someone out of the competition. She'll be all elegant and stuff, and you'll be flailing around like a lunatic."

Yang hiccup-laughed. "You forgot to mention my _crazy_ good looks!"

Blake barked a laugh. "Hey! Hey! That was almost not bad, you're losing your touch."

Yang stepped back and gave her a wide grin. "Alright! I'm pumped up now! Just you watch I'mma kick some butt!"

Blake grinned and gave Yang a push to get her started. The blonde barked a laugh and took off running in the direction of the coliseum. Blake put a hand on her hip and watched her go. "Seriously, for someone that plays team mom as often as she can, Yang really needs to learn to rely on others every now and then."

Blake's scroll buzzed; she'd gotten a text from Ruby asking what her seat was for Yang's match. Blake shook her head and texted back that she'd be right there. She resolved herself to talk to Yang about not putting herself through the wringer just to spare Ruby.

=][=

The entirety of teams JNPR and RWBY sat quietly in the latter's dorm room. So far Yang's and Pyrrha's victory celebration had consisted of watching Ruby and Shirou play a video game.

Jaune winced as his hero and favorite video game character utterly failed at Kung-Fu Ninja Slayer Ultimate Death Battle 2. He cringed as Shirou had to take his eyes off the screen to press the right button on his scroll.

Ruby mercilessly capitalized on that opening and launched into the punishing if utterly impractical and entirely unofficial_ Unlimited Swords _combo. The first attack being a quarter-circle forward light punch, followed by a half-circle back heavy kick, followed by a dash cancel into a three-quarter circle back light kick flurry, followed by a half-circle forward heavy punch into a mid-air juggle finished with a downward heavy slam, capped off by the double-circle forward heavy punch+light kick grab. All of which had to be performed with pixel-perfect precision in a time tolerance of only three frames.

Jaune looked on in horrified fascination as the Sword Hunter in the screen unleashed a ninety nine hit combo, each attack done with a different weapon, utterly annihilating Lady-Knight's two-thirds-full health bar. Jaune saw him tilt his head with interest as Ruby performed the _Rain of Blades_ Lethality.

"And the Sword Mistress wins again!" Ruby said, jumping to her feet and basking in imaginary applause.

"I've never seen that combo pulled off in an actual match…" Yang whispered with awe in her voice.

"It still feels wrong that the character based after me has better stats than Lady-Knight…" Shirou muttered slowly.

"Wanna go again?" Ruby asked excitedly.

"Sure," Shirou answered with a shrug.

Less than three minutes later he garnered his thirty-second consecutive defeat and readily acquiesced for another match.

Jaune gathered his courage and cleared his throat. "E-Excuse me?"

Shirou and Ruby turned to look at him.

"Why umm…why not try a different character?" he said as confidently as he could, which was next to none at all. "It seems Lady-Knight isn't really working out."

Shirou looked back at the character model, his ever-present scowl disappearing. Lady-Knight was petite, blonde and green-eyed, wearing blue and white armor and wielding a two-handed sword that shot bullets. One of the stronger characters in the roster thanks to her speed and striking power, but she lacked toughness.

Not at all a good match against the Sword Hunter, but then again, there was no good match against the Sword Hunter, there was a good reason he was banned in most tournaments.

The Sword Hunter was the most difficult character to learn, but those who put in the effort found that he was immensely powerful. Current meta against anyone playing the Sword Hunter was to go for a character with great health and endurance, and charge the Sword Hunter and chip him down from close range.

"No, this is good," he said as Ruby whooped and launched another match.

Seriously, Jaune was tempted to challenge her himself. He was the better Sword Hunter player out of the two of them, even if the Sword Hunter was extra difficult to fight in a mirror match.

Shirou stopped paying attention to the game as Zwei snuck out from under Weiss' bed and crawled on his belly until he reached Shirou. The corgi sniffed his leg, drawing back with his ears standing on end, then leaned in to sniff again, tilting his head in confusion. The dog sniffed again, his entire body taut with tension, before whispering a confused _"boof?"_

It turned around and ran back to Yang, headbutting her legs and hiding behind her to stare from Shirou, to Ruby, and back to Shirou, whispering another questioning bark.

"What's up little guy?" Yang asked and leaned down to scratch behind his ears.

Zwei whined and whispered a third confused bark.

"_**LETHALITY!"**_ shouted the game's announcer, Shirou's utter defeat no longer surprising either of the teams.

"Wanna go again!?"

"Sure."

His ready acceptance of being utterly annihilated over and over again? That did surprise them.

"So how come you're so bad at this game?" Weiss asked, looking up from an essay she was writing for Dr. Oobleck's class. "I think even _I'm_ better than you, and I almost never play."

Shirou shrugged. "I've never played a game before in my life."

Ruby paused. "Wait. You've never played Kung-Fu Ninja Slayer Ultimate Death Battle!?"

Shirou blinked at her. "I mean, technically I have…as of thirty minutes ago."

Ruby blinked. "Huh…yeah, I guess that does explain why I'm winning so much."

"W-Well, how about watching a movie?" Jaune asked. "There's a new drama that came out a few days ago starring the Landslide!"

There were appreciative murmurs, Dogwood _'the Landslide'_ Jameson _was_ exploding in popularity ever since he retired from the tournament circles and Huntsman work.

Watching a movie with the Sword Hunter! This would be a story he told his grandchildren!

"Who?" Shirou asked, bringing the room to ringing silence.

"The Landslide?" Pyrrha asked. "One of the most popular tournament competitors of the decade?"

"Never heard of him," Shirou said, turning back to the screen.

Jaune tried to swallow the lump in his throat, determined not to fail his idol. "W-Well we could watch _Try-Hard 2, Try Even Harder._ Its Fresh Banana critical score is not great, but audience reviews say it captures the spirit of the original, and you can never go wrong with a Spruce Willis film."

Shirou shrugged. "I've never seen a movie before, can't see why I'd start now."

Jaune felt the bottom fall out from under his stomach.

"Wait up," Yang said, picking up Zwei to be able to continue petting the adorable corgi. "You've never watched the first _Try-Hard_?"

"I have not," Shirou answered.

"What about _The Lettuce King?_ That musical is a classic," Blake asked from her bed.

"Never heard of it," Shirou answered.

"_Everyone's_ watched _The Huntsman Rises,"_ Nora said, jumping to her feet.

"Not me," Shirou rebuked.

"So…you've really never watched any movie before? At all?" Pyrrha asked with a mixture of shock and pity.

"Correct," Shirou said.

"But…why?" Weiss asked quietly.

Shirou shrugged. "I've never taken the time, don't really see the point in movies when I'm busy with more important things."

"Like running around protecting towns and being a hero?" Ren spat bitterly.

The awkward air in the room shifted into one of mute shock. Ruby stared at her friend with an almost betrayed look as Shirou turned his scowl to Ren, who met his gaze defiantly.

Shirou shrugged again. "I'm no hero, I just like to help people when I can."

Ren stared back at Shirou, a single eyebrow rising slowly as the two stared at each other. Nora placed a hand on Ren's shoulder and gave it a squeeze, prompting him to break eye contact. He looked to the side, flushed, and muttered a quiet apology that Shirou promptly accepted.

"Besides you absolutely totally completely surely _are_ a hero!" Ruby said jumping to her feet.

Shirou turned to look at her. "But…I'm not."

"A hero is a person who is admired or idolized for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities!" Ruby said as she pointed an imperious finger at Shirou's nose. "Ergo! You have no say on whether you are a hero or not!"

Everyone looked at Ruby with varying degrees of shock.

"Okay…since when do you…I mean…I…huh?" Weiss babbled as she ran her hands through her hair in bewilderment.

Shirou nodded. "Exactly. I'm not admired or idealized, I'm not courageous, and I have no outstanding achievements or noble qualities. So I'm not a hero, I just like to help people and go about my business."

"But liking to help people _is_ a noble quality!" Ruby shrieked at the top of her voice. "There is nothing nobler than self-sacrifice!"

Shirou opened his mouth to retort.

"Not admired?" Weiss grumbled, then jumped to her feet. "_Have you been living under a rock!?"_

Shirou turned to her to answer.

"I'm _pretty_ sure there's a movie about you in production," Blake said from her perch on her bed.

Shirou tilted his head and turned to her with a questioning expression.

"RUBY HAS BEEN BEATING YOU UP WITH A VIDEOGAME VERSION OF YOURSELF! IN A GAME WHERE YOU ARE THE STRONGEST CHARACTER!" Yang roared, her hair giving off a muted golden glow.

Shirou blinked.

"I…But…That…" he muttered, his scowl deepening. "That…doesn't make any sense. Why would anyone ever admire me? I'm not important or special."

"Yeeeeah," Nora said with a grin. "Not gonna lie, I'm not exactly your biggest fan but you're kind of a big deal. Or what, you thought that any random person could just up and walk into the Headmaster's office whenever they wanted to?"

Shirou turned to look at her with an expression that all but stated that yes, that is exactly what he had thought.

"Uuumm," Pyrrha said as she poked her index fingers together. "People are always wondering if I could beat you in a fight?"

Shirou blinked owlishly at her. "Are…you famous?"

"A little?" Pyrrha said with an awkward smile.

"I...see?"

As Shirou continued to be berated about his status as a Hero, Jaune turned to Pyrrha and simply admired her as she bit her bottom lip, all but bouncing on her seat and squeezing her left bicep with her right hand. He sighed and gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "Just ask him, I know you're dying to."

She turned to look at him with wide, surprised eyes. "I…do you really think it'll be okay? He won't be mad? I mean…He's the Sword Hunter, you know?"

Jaune gave her as reassuring a smile as he could. "What do you lose by asking? The worst thing that can happen is he says no."

Pyrrha smiled back and nodded resolutely, then cleared her throat. "E-Excuse me? Mister Shirou?"

Shirou turned to look at her. "Please don't ever call me mister again."

"Eh? I ah…sorry?" Pyrrha said as she scratched the back of her head. "I was umm…I was wondering if you'd agree to spar with me?"

A sudden quivering silence filled the room as the members of the two sister teams looked between Shirou and Pyrrha with wide eyes.

Shirou's scowl eased slightly. He tilted his head as he regarded her. After a few seconds he shrugged. "Sure."


	17. A couple omakes

Yo. Posting this a bit early because I'mma be busy basically all Saturday.

For those of you that were super excited about the Shirou v Pyrrha fight. Sorry bubbah, that needs some more Tender Loving Care before I am satisfied with it. I wrote a thing, was pretty satisfied, but then a buddy of mine pointed out I could have done a lot better, and I agreed!

This is a fight between two of my favorite characters and I wanna do it justice. So it needs some more work.

That said, I've been super busy the last two weeks so I didn't actually get that much time _to_ write. Also my PC's power supply was dying, I replaced it just before it went caput. That was fun.

Anyways. The next few weeks look really bad as far as free time goes. What does that mean for this story? It means that while I'll try to have the next chapter finished for two weeks from now, I can't make any promises about it being finished on time. It's just how it is. I got bills to pay.

So there you have it. I'm working on the Pyrrha v Shirou fight. I've got a rough draft of it done but I'm not happy with it. It's being worked on. Thing's looking not good as far as free time goes tho.

Have a pair of short stories that were cluttering up my brain and getting in the way of me writing. I got a chuckle out of writing them, hope you like 'em. Maybe they'll help tide you over till I'm finished with the next chapter.

And if they don't...well...sorry to tell ya bubbah, but nuttin' I can do about that.

As always, if you liked it drop me a review and lemme know why.

If you didn't. Drop me a review and preferably give me a detailed description and list of the reasons why you didn't. Failing that at least keep it civil yeh?

As always, thanks a bunch to Keel the Swift for betaing, it is thanks to that guy that you get to see a thing that does not have absolutely awful punctuation.

Final reminder. I'mma try to make the deadline for two weeks from now. But it might not turn out that way.

Have a couple short-stories/omakes set sometime between Arcs 1 and 2 of this fic! 8D

=][=

Are You In Or Out?

A peal of distant thunder rumbled over Anima, shaking the ground and trees with a shadow of the power of the lighting that birthed it. Over forests and hills, past mountains and lakes, the thunder rolled until the barest fraction of its fury broke against the walls of the Branwen camp, serving to perfectly punctuate the disquiet within it.

Raven's demand that they _abandon_ their ways, putting aside generations of being raiders had not been a popular one. But the beatings Raven and Vernal handed out to any who voiced a complaint, and the much more serious punishments to any who didn't comply with the new rules that prevented them from taking from people under their 'protection', effectively trampled any opposition.

In a mere two years the Branwens had almost made the transition from wolves to sheep dogs. Eventually the idea of not merely taking what they want would become the new 'normal', unless something changed, Raven would succeed in turning the Branwens soft.

Russus Branwen would not stand for it. He was a giant of a man, the circumference of his arms greater than the thighs of most people. He dressed plainly in a black shirt and brown overalls that seemingly strained to contain his musculature. Russus was shaven menacingly bald and forever had a 5 o' clock shadow on his chin. But if one were to ask any who were acquainted with Russus, they'd say that his most striking feature were his keenly intelligent blue eyes, forever shining with a cruel glint.

He looked at the cattle the Branwen were willingly becoming and scoffed in disgust, he swore to himself that he'd put things right, but how to go about getting rid of Raven? Russus was one of the best fighters in the tribe, but Raven Fucking Branwen was the best. He was not ashamed to admit he'd never beat her in a fair fight, or even most unfair ones.

Livid? Yes absolutely, but ashamed? No.

What he needed was for the red-eyed bitch to die. He could handle that stupid chit Vernal easily enough once Raven was out of the picture. The million Lien question was how? Raven's instincts were too keen for him to catch her unawares; double-crossing her on a raid would not work as she had put a stop the tribe's very lifeblood; poison was out, her food was entirely handled by her worthless little pet.

No, what he needed were numbers, he needed the Branwens. He had to slap the stupid out of them, remind them that the strong ate the weak, not the other damn way around! All he needed was to light a fire in their bellies, make the sheep dogs remember they were wolves!

And it had to be done right now, he'd not get another chance as good as this one, Raven had left with her brat and Vernal for 'training'. She thought herself secure in her position, in her power. She believed she had cowed the Branwen's spirit, that they feared her enough not to tear their leashes off and run wild when she turned her back.

Well joke's on her, the weather had taken an instant turn for the worse a few hours after they left. They'd come back shivering and soaked to the bone, and tired from whatever the hells Raven has the two stupid kids doing. It would be a perfect chance for a coup.

He began to walk around the camp, watching with mounting fury as the once proud men and women he's fought and killed beside huddled in their tents away from the rain and discussed patrol schedules. _Patrol schedules!_

Disgusting.

He strode out into the rain, filling his lungs with the petrichor scented air and shouted, "What the hells happened!?"

His bass roar cut through all conversation like a hot blade through butter.

He turned in a slow circle, glaring into the eyes of several tribesmen and women. "What! The hells! Happened!?

"I remember when being a member of this tribe meant I was _respected!_ I remember when being a member of this tribe meant I was _feared!_ I remembered when being a member of this tribe meant I could look forward to _proving my strength, _to _taking_ what I deserve! To stand proud and walk beside _wolves!_

"I look now, and I see nothing more than _sheepdogs!_ Where is the pride!? Where is the strength!? For hells' sake we have salaries!" He devolved into a wheezing laugh and repeated in an incredulous tone. _"Salaries!?"_

There were grumbles of agreement.

Russus suppressed his smirk. "We are Branwens! We are meant to plunder! We are meant to ransack! We are meant to _take what we deserve from those beneath us!"_

The grumbles became murmurs.

"But are we? No, we _are not allowed_," he said, his voice dripping with disgust. "We put our trust in a leader who has _gone soft! _So I say, join me! We are meant to be _predators _not _sheepdogs!"_

Russus lowered his voice, causing every member of the tribe to lean forward to catch his next words. "So I say join me, help me depose a leader that no longer deserves your loyalty. Join me in returning to the wolves we are meant to be. Remember that we are not _dogs!_ We are the predators!"

The tribesmen began a ragged cheer.

"Wait!" Flaxen's panicked shout brought the cheers to a halting, stuttering end. Flaxen was the definition of taciturn; he hadn't raised his voice when a Huntsman plucked his eye out. Everyone could instinctively feel that for him to sound so ragged, it had to be something monumental.

He looked at the tribesmen with wide-eyed horror. When he spoke, it was in a whisper that trembled with barely suppressed dread. "What about the food?"

"Well," Saian said scratching her chin. "Raven's kid makes the food."

At that instant, the entirety of the Branwen tribe came to the same horrifying realization.

The Branwen tribe had always made do with whatever could be scavenged or preserved. They weren't the most educated bunch; most of them could read and do some basic math but that was about it. Their expertise lay in fighting and intimidation, not so much the culinary arts. As such, for years, they had simply _made do_.

But ever since Raven adopted the kid, an entirely new world had opened to them. Not to mention that ever since he took over as camp cook, they no longer had any cases of scurvy or rickets. Not to mention how damn tasty his food was.

"You know," Oak murmured as he slowly ran a hand through his buzz-cut hair, "a lady at one of the towns we protect? She said to me 'thanks for keeping us safe' and gave me an apple, free of charge. I _like _apples."

There were grumbles of agreement.

"Raven's kid makes the food," Saian whispered in fear.

"Not to mention," Fren said scratching his cheek where a nasty scar pulled the corner of his mouth into a permanent leer. "I hit on a girl in town, yeah? And she actually seemed pretty into it, I didn't get the usual scoff or cringing in fear."

The grumbles became mutters.

"Raven's kid makes the food!" Saian wailed in horror.

Raven's kid was, after all, fond of _Raven_. He didn't talk much to anyone else other than Vernal, who acted as his babysitter more often than not.

If there were to be a coup against Raven, there was very little doubt where the loyalties of _Raven's kid _would lie.

As one, the entire Branwen tribe turned to glare at Russus with murder in their eyes.

"Remember! We could be wolves again!" Russus said, instinctively backing away from the tribe as they began to stalk toward him. "We can be predators! Remember your roots!"

In truth, Russus had lost his battle before it even began. The wolves of the Branwen tribe had grown fond of the warmth of a hearth fire.

As one they fell on Russus, bearing his screaming form down under sheer weight of numbers. He struggled and fought with fist and boot and tooth. But the wrath of the tribe would not be denied.

_Raven's kid makes the food._

=][=

Training day.

Shirou barely managed to duck out of the way as Omen's current blade whistled over his head, only when the weapon reversed course and the back of the blade slammed into his now exposed side and sent him face-first to the floor, did he realize that the first swing had been a feint.

"How many times have I told you to _keep your guard up!?"_ Raven railed at him as she pulled him up off the ground by his collar, his feet dangling off the floor. "Dammit kid! You'd think this would be simple! How have you not learned yet!?"

He looked away and scowled at the ground before muttering, "It works on everyone else."

"Well it only needs to fail _once _doesn't it!?" Raven shouted, giving him a good shake before letting go. Shirou barely managed to stop himself from sprawling. "Again!"

He took up to his preferred combat stance. He'd grown quite a bit in the years since Raven had found him. His hands wrapped all the way around the grips of Kansho and Bakuya, if only just, and his head now reached all the way to Raven's solar plexus if he stood straight…maybe he should try head-butting her there?

Five seconds and three lumps later he learned that his plan had been a rather poor one.

"What the hells even was that!?" Raven shouted at him as he picked himself up off the ground from the ground. "Again!"

The next time he lasted eight seconds.

Then ten.

And in the next five he lasted less than three.

"Again!" Raven growled, and Shirou did his best to comply, his arms shaking as he failed to push himself up more than a few inches, before he collapsed back to the ground. "I said again! Is that all you've got!? Are you going to lay down and die!?"

Shirou growled and pushed harder, the sweat streaming down his face and nose forming a muddy patch underneath his face. He was able to push himself to his knees, then to his feet, panting like a dog as he tried to regain control of his breathing. He squared off against Raven and as he took one step toward her his legs buckled underneath him, dropping him face-first to the dusty ground. Well, when you can't walk...

"Alright, that's enough then," Raven said as he failed to crawl toward her. She calmly plucked him from the ground and hugged him to her chest. "I'd say you did good, but you never once got the lesson on keeping your guard up."

"Raven let me down," he muttered, sulkily resting his face against her neck as he currently lacked the energy to hold his head up, "I can walk."

"No you can't," she said gently, walking away from the circle of rope in the center of the camp. She turned to the members of the tribe that had stuck around to watch her 'training' Shirou, "Alright whoever's up next the arena's yours!"

A small silver haired girl shot up and pointed an imperious finger at Raven's adjutant. "Big sis Vernal! Today is the day you die!"

Vernal sighed dejectedly. "Seriously Sylvie? Again? Can't you pick a fight against anyone else?"

"Nope!" the excitable girl said with a smile far too predatory for a twelve year old. "Once I beat you, I'll be able to challenge Shirou!"

"Oh that's it!" Vernal shrieked. "Just for that, I'll make you eat dirt!"

Shirou missed the rest of the fight, but judging by Sylvie's panicked cries of "Uncle! UNCLE!" followed by squealing and frantic spitting, the fight neither lasted long nor went in Sylvie's favor. Barring Raven, Shirou could beat every member of the tribe, wrenching the title of 'second-best warrior' from Vernal, something for which he wasn't sure she had forgiven him yet.

"Seriously, Shirou," Raven chided gently as she made her way to Flaxen's tent. "When will you learn to stop leaving all of those holes in your defense?"

"It works against everyone else," he repeated sulkily, his hands bunching on her dress.

And it did, he could read everyone's fighting style from their weapons. Ever since the change and the foiled coup, most of the Branwens practiced almost religiously, to the point that their movements in a fight were almost instinctual.

Meaning their fighting styles were etched deeply into their weapons. So Shirou almost never fell to any of their feints, he was instinctively and intimately familiar with their style without the need to fight them previously.

There was only one notable exception.

Raven's 'swords' were compressed Dust. Each one was both fragile and disposable, she used those blades like another would use expensive ammunition. As such all of her skill remained a mystery to Shirou, no matter that he had a copy of every Dust blade Raven had ever used since she picked him up, each of those copies was a blank slate with next to no history. Meaning Raven's fighting style was a closed book to him, which resulted in her smacking him about however much she pleased any time they sparred.

"And I keep telling you," Raven growled, " it only needs to fail _once_. And because your Aura is weird, you don't heal as you should. If you mess up in a real fight you'll be much worse off than even Flaxen! I…You…" she sighed, her arms tightened around him, holding him closer. "It would be really inconvenient for me if you died."

Those words made a warm feeling spring up in Shirou's chest. It wasn't often he had that feeling, so he relished it every time it came. His lips stretched into a slight smirk. "Love you too, Mom."

He made the rest of the trip to Flaxen's tent dangling by an ankle.


	18. Move along yeh?

Well, this chapter served its purpose so Is gettin' replaced.

If you weren't around when this chapter was first posted. It was a rant to stop a bunch of PMs.

If you're about to leave a review about "Archer's Suicidal Fighting Style is Gabriel Blessings Fanon" or "Shirou should have been able to beat Raven." Feel free to skip along to the next chapter and see the calm explanation there.

I'd delete this one but then that could cause issues with people getting notifications and stuff. Anyways, plz review, save PMs for when you have a question or would like to have something clarified.

If you've made it this far, hope you're liking the fic! 8D


	19. Chapter 15

Puttin' this up a wee bit early cause I'mma be busy saturday.

Frankly you guys are lucky I was able to tear myself away from DOOM Eternal long enough to get this betad and posted.

Also, some people really need to pay attention to author's notes! I did mention that I likely wouldn't make the two-week deadline! Don't come cryin' to me when you were warned!

Same thing applies now! My job is hard on the noggin' and I've been busy. I write when I have left-over brain processing power from work. Trying to get a chapter out, I can write some 300-500 words an hour. Well, this chapter is over _nine-thousand words_. That takes time, time which I could (and do) spend doing other stuff when I'm simply too tired from work. This is fanfiction, I write it first and foremost for me to have fun. I post these on the off-chance someone enjoys my tripe. It'll take as long as it takes, I'mma try and continue meeting the two-week deadline, but shit happens and I might not meet it.

And before y'all start lecturing me about Ironwood. I've figured out the logic _and_ bounced it off several people, all of whom initially disagreed but once I explained the logic agreed it wasn't out of character. The problem is that the explanation of that logic does not fit in this chapter without making it rather awful and high-handed.

Anyways I'mma go into a bit of a less ranty explanation of my logic behind the rant, so if you are not interested in reading that feel free to skip to the chapter itself, hope you enjoy, drop me a review.

With that said.

Bit of clearing up from the previous rant! For those that did not realize. Were you among the numerous people sending me PMs that said "Well Actually, Archer's 'suicidal fighting style' is Gabriel Blessings fanon" with different levels of snootyness? If the answer to that question is no, then the rant and sarcasm were not meant for you brah.

If you still get offended by it...uhh...well nothing I can do about that. You do you.

Why I posted the rant as a chapter? Well, look at it this way. If I stopped to explain to everyone PMing me "Archer's Suicidal fighting style, humm humm Fanon but it's okay you probably didn't realize this" that no, I'm talking about something else actually. I would have taken _even longer_ to finish this here chapter.

Oh yeah. Thing to note about the rant. A good chunk of the explanation behind "Archer incorporating risk into his melee fighting style" that's head canon. The only things we know about how he fights in CQC is that he favored Kansho and Bakuya. We know that from HF day 15, Sparks Liner High. Specifically these lines.

[The method I couldn't come up with, the stance that will guarantee a kill should exist.  
He favored these swords.  
Then there's no way he hasn't come up with an ultimate attack to get him through the countless battles!]

So we know he favored K&B, and that he fought "countless battles" with them. So much so that he came up with "Crane Wing Three Realm" or "Triple Linked Crane Wings" (whichever you wanna call it), an ultimate move only he could pull off and which could only be done with K&B.

We also know that his main fighting stance has his arms down by his legs and the swords pointing towards the groundish. And if we take the animations of several anime and fighting games (and that one CG of him advancing against Lancer at the prologue of the VN), sometimes he has a propensity to cross his arms in front of his chest as he is fighting. May or may not fire off a point-blank arrow when the situation calls for it.

That's it. That's all the info we got on how Counter Guardian Emiya and plausibly an adult Shirou fights in melee.

Saying that he probably created his own style and incorporates risk into it is me trying to take that rather...risky...stance and applying fighting logic to it. Saying that he reads his opponent's fighting style from their weapons is a further attempt at explaining how it is that he would be able to use such an...open...guard effectively in a fight, is also me trying to rationalize that..._sigh_...stance.

As to why I dislike that stance so much? Well, I practice martial arts. To be specific; Tae-kwon-do, kickboxing, Brazilian Jujitsu and a buddy of mine showed me a few Muai Tai moves. This actually has helped to elevate my writing of fighting scenes, cause I know what it feels like to get my breath literally kicked out of me, and I know the feeling of causing microfractures on someone's thoracic cage. (Don't look at me weird that one was an accident, I really didn't mean it!)

So I kind of understand the importance of keeping a proper guard. I've even experimented with drawing an attack, yeh? Dropping my shoulder a bit so my opponent has a clear line of attack to my jaw. The logic is sound, I know he'll attack there so I can use that to make an opening for a counter. But uhh...guess what? If you measure it wrong or react wrong? You get decked in the jaw. XD

And it's not just me, sparring buddies of mine I was helping with the same thing got decked in the jaw, even after slowly going through the motions several times, waiting for them to be ready, and counting down. There were still times that they messed up and I decked them on the jaw. It's just how it is, one has to practice A LOT to leave an opening and not get fuggin' destroyed. This is where the argument for 'he's built risk into his fighting style' comes from, that main stance is...well...bad, it's not a good guard stance.

And it's not just me! Several people who are also martial artists and HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts, literally swords and armor sparring) enthusiasts PMed me and agreed with my rant about atrocious stances!

So, why is Archer's stance such a big deal if messing up only gets you decked in the jaw? Well in Shirou/Archer's case, he'd get decked in the jaw with a spear/sword/hammer/ax/other cutty/stabby/bludgeony tool. And those tend to result in...well...dying. And yet Shirou/Archer _makes it work_ and it's up to me to come up with some explanation as to how in order for my writing to go more smoothly! I enjoy getting into the nitty gritty like that, and if I force myself to overlook it, it bothers me and the quality of my writing suffers as a result.

But again, keep in mind, Everything beyond the line "That's it. That's all the info we got on how Counter Guardian Emiya and plausibly an adult Shirou fights in melee" is my own personal headcanon put together through my own experience with fighting and sparring.

Now, to the people saying Shirou in the short-story should have been able to beat Raven in a spar...are you serious? I did gave hints as to how young he physically was at the time. XD

In that snippet he was a twelve year old superhuman facing off against a 27+ year old superhuman. Meaning he is fighting someone who is bigger, faster, stronger, and just as experienced as he is (because again, this is Shirou not Archer, and in this story he left earth when he was around his thirties, so he's got some twenty something years fighting experience, and so does Raven). The only way he is winning that spar is if he pulls out a Noble Phantasm and atomizes Raven, the Branwen camp, and possibly a good chunk of the scenery! XD

On an entirely different note. Gabriel Blessings fans have a lot of free time on their hands.

Wish I had that much free time. TT-TT

Incidentally, since the rant served its purpose of getting the bunch of "But Archer's suicidal gabriel blessings blah blah" PMs to stop, I was considering deleting it, then later posting this chapter in its place, but someone informed me that FFN doesn't like it when you do that and likely doesn't send the notification email. So the rant is staying if only to make it easier on myself.

Maybe I could replace it with a document that just says "Placeholder, move on! Tee-hee! =P"?

Dunno, haven't decided yet.

Well, if you stuck around this long, thank you for reading my long-winded much calmer explanation behind the rant! I'm hoping we can all collectively move on past this!

Have fun and hope you enjoy my rendition of a Shirou vs Pyrrha fight! Among other things. Be sure to leave me a review!

=][=

Pyrrha did what she could to stop herself from bouncing excitedly as she made her way to the sparring room's stage.

On the spectator stands she could see RWBY, CVFY, the rest of JNPR, and Professor Goodwitch.

Shirou had been strangely reticent about using school facilities to have their match, insisting instead on going some distance into the Emerald Forest. Uncaring of the school curfew or that they'd be breaking school rules.

Until Yang complained that it would be too much of a hassle and insisted on using one of the sparring rooms, upon which Shirou had capitulated immediately.

He'd also objected to Ruby's idea to contact CVFY because, as the excitable girl had put it. "Velvet is actually _more _of a weapon's nut than I am! It'd be a crime not to!"

Crime or not, Shirou had instantly denied Ruby's request, showing an admirable immunity to the girl's weapons-grade pout…until Yang had chuckled and asked what the harm was in asking one more group of friends to watch the match. Upon which Shirou had sighed and accepted.

Pyrrha blinked, could it be… She had at first thought that Shirou and Yang were half-siblings. But it was Ruby's head that he patted with affection not unlike one showed to a younger sibling, and while he had allowed the excitable girl to drag him around all day. He had denied both her request to use school facilities _and_ to contact Velvet. Making it obvious that he was not seeking to advertise his presence in Beacon.

It had not been until Yang asked that he had agreed, instantly at that. There was only one possible conclusion that Pyrrha could draw from the evidence available to her. And it would likely break Ruby Rose's excitable heart.

Then again if the Sword Hunter was clearly into Yang, maybe Jaune would...

Pyrrha shook her head as she arrived at the stage, she couldn't afford to get flustered. The swords that Shirou could fire were fast, if she didn't get her head in the game she'd not be able to react in time to nudge them out of the way with her Semblance.

She looked at her opponent and blinked in confusion. He'd removed the anima cuirass and the steel tips of his boots, leaving him wearing only his black leather armor, hood, and waist cape.

Was he worried about his dexterity? Or did he know about her Semblance? With Polarity, she could create and control magnetic fields. She used it often in matches to nudge enemy weapons into directions that better suited her, as well as to augment the strength of her own attacks. Furthermore she could 'feel' any disturbance in the magnetic field she created, as caused by a magnetic weapon traveling through it, allowing her to react to attacks from a blind spot.

As professor Goodwitch outlined the rules of the match, he created a pair of bronze-plated gladii. Odd. She would have expected those Mistralean falchions he seemed to favor.

Reaching out with Polarity, she realized the swords were not bronze _plated_ they were genuinely made of bronze. Copper and tin would be her guess, as if there were any nickel or iron in the bronze she'd have been able to feel it and nudge it about.

Had he lied when he asked her if she was famous, and in fact followed her matches and figured out her Semblance?

No, he had seemed genuinely out of his depth in the dorm.

Well, his Semblance was making swords. Could it be that he had some intuitive connection to weapons that let him know how they were used? The very idea seemed ludicrous but…

Professor Goodwitch took a deep breath. "Be-!"

His arm blurred and Pyrrha instinctively raised her shield, there was a deafening ring of metal striking metal as one of the gladii bounced off the face of Akoúo̱ with an impact that, were it not for her Aura, would have wrenched her shoulder out of its socket.

"-gi-!" Pyrrha stepped back, changing the angle of Akoúo̱ to deflect a thrust at the same time as she swept Miló to block the edge of a blade that had been sweeping toward her neck.

"-n!" The thrust she'd redirected had been a feint, Shirou's right hand snuck down beneath the edge of Akoúo̱, another gladius flashed into being in his grip and was used as a lever to wrench her shield out of the way, with Miló still trapped fending off the sword in his left. As she began to change the angle of her block and started to leverage her Semblance to add to her physical might, he took an aggressive step forward, stomping hard on her lead foot and drove his forehead into her nose. The pain caused bright spots to dance across her vision as she pushed herself back. She changed Miló into a rifle and fired off a few shots blindly to try and keep him away long enough to regain her bearings.

She heard the _'whoosh'_ of a sword cutting through the air, and she instinctively dodged sideways. She felt something cold brush past the tip of her nose, the wind of its passage ruffling her bangs. She brought Akoúo̱ up to cover her head and another punishing impact almost drove her shield into the side of her head. Her vision finally cleared enough for her to see him sprinting toward her, a new pair of bronze gladii in his hands.

She changed Miló into a spear and set her stance just in time to meet his charge as he launched into a flurry of attacks. Akoúo̱ rang continuously as she tried to use Miló's length to gain a little space but he doggedly matched her every step. His attacks were too swift and relentless to change Miló into a rifle and take a shot point blank in between his attacks. More than once she tried to nudge his weapons out of the way so his strikes would miss and unbalance him, giving her an opening, but there was nothing for her magnetic fields to latch onto.

By every third or fourth strike his weapons would crack, get gouged, or bend so far out of true as to reach the point of uselessness, but the tempo of his attacks would not so much as hitch as he discarded the sword and created a new one. The clatter of weapons being abandoned almost as ever present as the sounds of their duel. A part of her could not help but feel somewhat insulted by the way he treated his gladii as utterly disposable.

Pyrrha needed to take charge of the fight, but her usual subtle tricks for it were neatly and surprisingly easily countered. If she were to try something it would be overt…Well, she could handle team RWBY (though not necessarily all at the same time) and CVFY was out of the tournament.

Changing Miló into a sword, Pyrrha covered her head and neck with Akoúo̱, grit her teeth, then stomped forward, twisting her hips and back and made a huge, awfully telegraphed horizontal swing with Miló.

The punishment was immediate, as he dodged back one of his swords crashed into her unarmored right forearm with bone crushing force. She screamed in both pain and effort as she forced herself to complete the swing and flicked her wrist at the very end, throwing Miló and imparting spin to it. She then used Polarity to engulf her weapon in a magnetic field and increased the speed of its spinning until it resembled a red and gold flying buzz saw.

The weapon roared as it cut the air, forcing him to back away as she made the sword follow him. Pyrrha spun and threw Akoúo̱ at him as hard as she could, then charged at him.

Shirou deftly dodged the shield as he continued to backpedal, using the gladii to try and parry Miló resulted only in a third of the blades being shorn off.

Pyrrha suppressed a smirk as she used Polarity to bring Akoúo̱ in an arc toward her opponent's back. As she caught up to Miló, she jumped, adding a pirouette for additional centrifugal force. She reached out, using Polarity to slap Miló's grip into her palm (which to an onlooker would make it seem as if she'd perfectly snatched the weapon out of its perilous spinning) and attacked in a downward stab that had all of her built-up momentum, bodyweight and the aid of gravity behind it.

A stab that she had practiced extensively so it would force an opponent to keep their attention on her, on the fact that she could not dodge midair. Making it so that the first notice they'd have of Akoúo̱ as it hurtled toward their lower back, was the impact that would destabilize their footing and stance an instant before Miló stabbed down onto them.

It wasn't an attack she used often, but it was the technique with which she had become a national champion for the first time.

Which was why it came as something of a surprise when, rather than set his stance to take advantage of her vulnerability in the air, Shirou launched himself into a backflip, managing to just barely clear Akoúo̱ so the edge of her shield now hurtled toward her face.

Pyrrha used her Semblance to turn it so Akoúo̱'s flat faced her, curled up and landed feet first on her shield, bending her knees to absorb the momentum of her charge, then kicked off into a backflip of her own, launching her shield toward Shirou, who batted it aside and muttered something under his breath.

By the time she landed there were a dozen weapons floating behind him. She immediately used her Semblance and Akoúo̱ began its return journey to her.

Pyrrha put weight into her back foot as she prepared to launch herself forward, but aborted the attempt with a sidestep as a bronze-headed spear roared through the space where her head had been. She dipped under a copper dagger that would have struck her shoulder and leaped back to avoid a flint-headed spear that shattered against the arena floor. Akoúo̱ finally slapped into her forearm as she readied herself to launch forward again.

And then he stopped shooting the weapons one at a time.

The only sound that could overpower the shriek of weapons shattering the sound barrier, were the squeals of tortured metal as the weapons he fired fractured against the floor. Even though advancing toward him was nearly impossible, she pushed forward. She dodged, dipped, ducked and dove, angling Akoúo̱ so that any sword or spear she couldn't avoid glanced off the face of the shield. Every instinct told her to close the distance quickly, but she was forced to advance at an oblique angle, taking a leap back for every two steps she managed to push forward.

She instinctively used Polarity to try and make an opening in the rain of blades, but it never worked. Copper knives, bronze swords and spears, flint headed arrows, once she saw an ornate club with black, gleaming rocks driven into it.

Her heart pounded with the exhilaration of actually being overwhelmed in a match. Her breath came in short pants and she could feel sweat falling in rivulets down her face and back as she danced through the rain of blades.

She could tell that there was an easier way forward than trying to break through, a path of least resistance that she could follow and drive quickly towards him. But this was _his_ rain of weapons, that path of least resistance was sure to be a trap. She felt her lips stretch out into an excited grin for the first time in what felt like an eternity.

She pushed forward until she was a couple yards away from him, but with the intensity of the barrage it might as well have been two miles. And then every weapon that had been roaring toward her dissolved into golden motes all at once, causing her to stumble in surprise for an instant.

In that instant he drove forward, and Pyrrha had just enough time to raise Akoúo̱ to protect her left side and Miló to protect her neck and head on her right. A sword slammed into Miló with an impact that almost made her stumble. The Sword Hunter then became a whirlwind of sharp bronze.

Pyrrha felt the grin on her face grow wider as they matched blades once more.

=][=

Ruby Rose had thought she would have been happy to see her Hero in a match against an international champion of Pyrrha's caliber. Had she been asked she would have used every synonym she knew for 'ecstatic' and maybe looked up a few more in the CCTN to help convey how happy she thought she'd be at the current circumstances.

After all, she got to see her Hero kill the creatures of Grimm in the flesh, before he very politely declined to skewer her team into chunky salsa when they later attacked him.

But those times she had been rather preoccupied, so she did not get to actually _enjoy_ watching her Hero fight, which is why she had been so incredibly excited at the prospect of the match.

It just so happened that when the match started, Ruby had skipped past 'happy' to land firmly in 'astonished' and moved on from there.

Ruby had often heard the phrase 'a warrior's grace.' She had read of 'footwork so skilled and movements so fluid as to be a dance.' She had sought to emulate Huntsmen that she believed embodied that very ideal, as her Hero for the most part killed Grimm with sharp and stabby artillery. In all of her training, in all of her fights, Ruby had sought to move in such a way as to awe the onlooker with the grace and power of her movements as she fought.

It was not until this exact moment that she came to the startling realization that she had been doing it wrong all along.

He was a blur. It felt like she was seeing something liquid and unreal. Both of his blades moved in absolute synchrony. It mattered not if he parried, blocked, disengaged or riposted, it mattered not what trick, or twist, or feint, or change in tempo Pyrrha attempted. His swords forever moved in mathematically perfect harmony.

Fighting with paired swords is far from simple, and fighting _well_ with paired blades is next to impossible. Many fighters she had bested had convinced themselves that it offered any benefit whatsoever over a blade and shield, or a longer single blade, or a spear, or a weapon that could shift between any of those options _and_ was also a gun. Fighting with twin weapons was, most of the time that she had seen, for those like Russel who prioritized posturing over skill, seeking to intimidate their opponent and awe a bystander. Very few people that she knew of had mastered fighting with twin swords. Barring Ren, everyone she had fought against who used a two-sword style had merely been overconfident and, frankly, something of a disappointment as they'd used the second blade almost exclusively to defend, in which case they would have been better served with a shield.

Mr. Sword Hunter was graceful, swift, coordinated, strong and many more things. But the way he fought had nothing of what she'd call 'flair.' Every movement was swift and precise, without a single instant of wasted motion. In fact he often snuck in a shallow cut or stab any time Pyrrha swung with a little too much flourish, an opening Ruby herself had seen before but had never been able to move quickly enough to capitalize on. His every swing was calm, collected, precise. It was almost…impersonal.

Pyrrha's thrown shield moved in ever more intricate patterns as they fought, but he always moved aside _just enough_ so it did little more than ruffle his cloak. She turned her sword into a spear and cast it with a flare of high-grade combustion Dust, but every cast of the spear was met with a conjured sword or spear slamming against it in midair.

In fact, there was a surprising amount of discarded weaponry on the floor. To such an extent that, rather than fight on the actual floor, most of the fight was now happening on top of those bronze gladii that Mr. Sword Hunter was using to fight…now that she thought of it, why_ was_ he using old weapons? Could it be that they were more Aura-effective to make? No, the Sword Rain she'd witnessed had used steel weapons.

And Pyrrha definitely seemed to be having a harder time than usual…her dodges and parries were less graceful than Ruby was used to seeing from her friend. Could he have figured out Pyrrha's Semblance in the short time they'd known each other? But if so, how was using bronze and stone weapons countering her Semblance?

As she asked herself that question, she saw Pyrrha's spear get knocked out of the air by a conjured sword. Ruby watched as the spear was sent sailing off to the side before ricocheting off the force field enclosing the combatants and sailing unerringly back to Pyrrha's waiting hand.

Ruby blinked, that...should not have happened quite like that. She tracked Pyrrha's shield the next time her friend threw it, and watched in fascination as it jinked from side to side, was repulsed into the ground and skipped off a pile of bronze swords before coming in behind Mr. Sword Hunter, who dodged it by a minor margin and the shield slotted itself seamlessly into Pyrrha's vambrace.

Ruby felt her eyes widening. Telekinesis? No, if that were the case Pyrrha would have had no trouble with the Sword Rain. It had to be something _like_ telekinesis but didn't work on bronze or stone...

When Pyrrha's defeat came, it began as a trickle that quickly escalated to a cascade. Mr. Sword Hunter changed weapons mid-swing, going from a bronze gladius to a wood and stone club the instant before his attack met Pyrrha's shield. The unexpected weight behind the attack caused her to take a step back in order not to overbalance and fall.

The piled weapons Pyrrha stepped on disappeared as she put her weight down on them causing her to begin to topple backwards. Pyrrha immediately and almost seamlessly transitioned into a backwards cartwheel that she combined with a flash-kick to keep him at bay.

And as she was halfway through the cartwheel, the enormous slab of stone that Mr. Sword Hunter used to kill that King Taijitu appeared in her way in a cerulean flash, halting her movement cold. As she rebounded from the stone sword, he took hold of her ankles and slammed her back down to the floor so hard that Ruby heard Pyrrha huff as the air was crushed out of her lungs.

He then pointed at her ankles and a pair of deer horn knives that looked to be made of actual deer antlers slammed into place around Pyrrha's ankles, knees, and thighs. He stepped forward and pinned her left arm to the floor by stepping on her wrist, then pointed to her right hand, where another deer-horn knife slammed itself over Pyrrha's wrist, the same soon followed on her forearm, elbow, biceps and shoulder. Her left arm soon received the same treatment, a singularly enormous knife pinning her shield to the floor.

He stepped back from her, the air above her sparkling with blue lightning as swords began to appear. Pyrrha struggled, her entire body trembling as she tried to free herself, but the knives were seemingly immovable.

Two swords became ten, ten swords became five dozen.

Ruby blinked, her mouth falling open into a perfect 'o'.

There was just no way.

He couldn't possibly.

Right?

=][=

Shirou looked over his handiwork with a critical eye, then added a few more knives and Altered them so they'd spread out into the concrete like tree roots.

That should be good enough for her not to be able to free herself…maybe.

He wondered if perhaps he shouldn't just do the thing while facing her just to be on the safe side? Thinking of safety, where was Miló?

He looked around and spotted the Sword-Rocket Spear-Rifle lying an arm's length away from Pyrrha's pinned hand. That could have been dangerous. She didn't need to have the weapon on hand to fling it at him, and for this next bit he would be distracted.

He immediately covered it in four dozen copies of the literal deer horn knives he'd made for Vernal as a birthday gift a few years back.

There, that should be safe now, worst come to worst the crack of shattered concrete would let him know if it got free.

He looked down at the trapped, struggling girl, and decided that this whole 'Lethality' thing took way too much effort to set up safely. He crossed his fingers and hoped that the nagging feeling he got while playing that game would come back and make him remember something about the green-eyed girl. He looked over the several dozen swords floating above her, nodded, and prepared to snap his fingers.

"E-Excuse me," Pyrrha said tremulously. He blinked and looked down at her pale, sweaty face. "Hey umm…I yield? There's no need to go through with the whole 'Lethality' thing, okay? I can't move and am at your mercy, it's your win."

Well crap. The whole reason he'd agreed to the fight was to test that nagging feeling he got when he watched the video game version of himself do that thing.

Goodwitch began to label him the winner, there was a buzz, the screen showed remaining Aura levels. He was still well above half while Pyrrha had fallen to under thirty.

He pursed his lips behind his mask as he pondered, then nodded. "Do me a favor and stay right there."

He then turned his back on her and snapped his fingers. There were shouts of alarm that almost drowned out Pyrrha's frightened "eep!"

He didn't bring the swords down, after all, it was the turning and the snap that made him get that feeling. He felt something new spring up within him as he snapped his fingers.

Oh hells that felt awful.

There was anger, and no small amount of disgust and…incredulity?

He furrowed his brows and snapped his fingers again.

The second snap was even worse. But_ why_ was it worse? Why did snapping his fingers in this particular situation make him feel awful? Maybe if he did it one more time?

The third time made him feel physically ill, and he resolved himself to never ever snap his fingers again for any reason.

"Ummm…" Pyrrha said nervously behind him. "M-May I stand up? Please?"

Shirou blinked and looked back at her. Oh right, the knives.

He dispersed every weapon that he'd created, then offered her a hand up.

She looked at his hand as if it were going to bite her, before shaking her head and accepting his aid to stand.

"You're pretty good," he said, and she was. Nowhere near Raven's level, but above Sylvie and Vernal.

She grinned at him. "Thanks for the fight, mind if I ask for a rematch later?"

He shrugged. "If I'm still around, sure."

He was then tackled to the ground by a red and black blur.

"THAT WAS AWESOME!" Ruby shouted in his ear.

A moment later he heard someone land lightly next to him, and saw that rabbit-eared Faunus girl that Ruby insisted _had_ to watch his match with Pyrrha.

"Excuse me," she said as she pulled out a notebook and pen. "Why did you fight with outdated weapons? Did they have some special property? Were they cheaper to produce with your Semblance?"

"Uhhh…" he answered intelligently.

"You were going to do the _Rain of Blades_ Lethality!" Ruby gushed, he could all but see stars in her eyes. "That was _soooooo cooooooool!"_

"I'm never doing that again," he said flatly.

"Why!? You gotta! It's so cool!"

Hrm, he did not know how to handle his current situation, what was it that Raven told him to do when he felt out of his depth dealing with people?

"_Meh, shut your trap and scowl at them, they'll leave you alone eventually."_

Somehow, he got the feeling that his go-to tactic for dealing with people would not work with these two.

He'd have to rely on his secondary strategy.

But Vernal wasn't around so he could shove her at these two while he slunk away. Hmm, he really needed to come up with more ways to deal with people.

"You gotta! Can you at least do it to me!? It'd be so cool!" Ruby wailed.

He blinked.

She actually _wanted_ to get skewered by several dozen swords?

"Ruby. I'm not hitting you with swords," he said slowly.

"WHY!? I'm suuuuuper tough! I can take it! Hit me with your best sword!" she demanded as she began shaking him.

Well he certainly couldn't do that. Atomizing one of his little sisters sounded like a _really_ bad idea.

"Ruby," he said, "let me up."

She blinked and seemed to realize that she was straddling him and her face got very, very red. Could she be coming down with a fever? That could be bad, but at least she wasn't competing in the tournament anymore and could get plenty of rest.

She was off him in a flash, pulling her cloak up to hide her face, an unending stream of words coming out of her mouth much too quickly for him to understand anything she was saying.

He pulled himself to his feet and took off his mask and hood. He heard the clicks of high-heels on concrete and immediately lowered his center of gravity, turning his body to minimize his profile and planted his feet a shoulder's width apart, his hands curling around the grips of swords that would take an instant to materialize.

He would have missed the hitch in Glynda Goodwitch's step if he hadn't been looking for any sign of hostility. Her hand tightened on the grip of her riding crop as she made her way to Pyrrha.

"Ms. Nikos, I trust that all is well?"

Pyrrha held her hands demurely in front of her and spoke to the floor. "Y-Yes, Professor."

"Good, my apologies but I need to leave," she held out her scroll toward Pyrrha, a moment later Pyrrha's scroll beeped. "I've granted you permission to control the lock on the door, please be sure to lock the room behind you when you are done."

"I…Yes Professor, I'll be certain to."

Goodwitch looked at the half demolished arena before turning her eyes to him, and Shirou once more felt the longing, the feeling that the woman before him was _so close _to the girl he searched for, yet was missing _something _that would mean he had finally found her. He felt a painful pang when she turned her back to him and began walking away, his hand twitching slightly as he almost called out to her, to ask her to stay a little longer.

He did not relax his posture until she was out of sight.

He turned around to see the rest of the three teams had joined them.

"Excuse me, could you bring out that spear that you use?" the Faunus girl said, her voice gaining in volume with every word she spoke. "Or those Falchions? Or that sword you used during the Breach!?"

Shirou blinked, and rather than answer he created Gáe Bolg and held it over his shoulder.

She squealed and began taking picture after picture.

"Oh great," said a girl that was wearing sunglasses even though they were indoors, "Velvet won't stop gushing about those for days."

He scowled in her direction.

Yang walked over with an admirable attempt at a cocky smirk on her face, could she also be coming down with something? That'd be bad seeing as she was still competing in the tournament, maybe he could sneak into the kitchen and make her some chicken soup?

Yang took hold of her left elbow with her right hand. "Hey, too bad you're not in the tournament, I'd love a chance at a rematch against you, that rain of swords is pretty impressive."

Shirou nodded, vanished Gáe Bolg and created Durandal. He rested its point on the ground and folded his hands on the pommel. Velvet squealed again and took more pictures.

"R-Right," Yang muttered with a grimace.

Blake walked up next to Yang and gave her shoulder a friendly squeeze, easing his little sister's grimace. "Well, you've always seemed interested in laying low for the most part," she said with a demure smile. "Showing up in a tournament that's seen by all of Remnant would kinda fly in the face of that."

Shirou froze. For some reason Blake flinched away from him when he turned his eyes to her.

"Say that again."

=][=

Raven could not help but feel the usual nostalgic pang as she flew over Beacon. She'd raised all kinds of hell in these parts for four years.

She remembered overhearing several teachers mention that they hoped Summer would be a calming influence on her, so Raven had made it her life's goal to corrupt the hells out of that repressed idiot.

Her brain regurgitated fuzzy memories of waking up still a little drunk, wearing only Summer's white cloak while her team leader was wearing Raven's own dress.

Gods only knew how they'd managed to get _into_ that house, none of the windows had been broken into and none of the locks were forced, and neither Summer nor herself knew how to pick a lock.

Summer had beaten the crap out of Raven when she woke up and saw Raven wearing her cloak.

Good times.

She spotted a familiar head of blonde hair walking slowly through a deserted courtyard. Tucking her wings close to her body, she dove down several dozen feet before flaring her wings and flapping her way to a tree branch.

"And I am telling you it won't be an issue," James Ironwood ground out. "If anything, the result of that match shows that it is _imperative_ that we obtain his loyalty."

"While I agree that Shirou would be a good ally to have, the point remains _he does not trust us,_" Glynda growled. Good boy Shirou, Raven would ease his punishment a little.

Rather than forcing him to watch Vernal cook for a whole month, she'd bring it down to a couple weeks. Raven took off from her perch and flew to a light pole to keep up with the two as they moved.

"Besides," Glynda continued, "you heard him. He remembers next to nothing of the girl he's looking for. How exactly do you plan on finding the woman without so much as a physical description?"

Ironwood coughed and grimaced to the side, which seemed to be universal male for 'That's a very pertinent question, the answer to which you won't like so I'd rather not say.'

"James," Glynda ground out, the sheer amount of anger and disdain she injected into his name was staggering. Raven decided to try that on her bundle of stupid, maybe it would finally get something smart through his thick skull.

Ironwood quailed under Glynda's glare, and pointedly did not meet her gaze as he said, "I have my ways."

Glynda stopped and put a hand on his chest. "That's not good enough James, what are you plotting?"

"I'm not plotting an-!"

"Bullshit!" Raven cocked her head in surprise, Glynda was never one for invectives. "You're a Headmaster and a General! Plotting is your default setting! _What are you plotting!?"_

Ironwood coughed to the side. "I have someone in my employ in whom I have full confidence."

Glynda took hold of his collar and pulled his face down to her level so she could properly glare at him. "Explain, now."

Ironwood took her hand in his and gently pried her grip free. He cleared his throat before speaking in a low voice. "One of my agents can…influence people."

Glynda tried to step back, but he did not release her hand. "You can't possibly-!"

"Yes," he interrupted. "I do."

"But! I! That's! You!" Glynda sputtered, her face turning a deeper shade of red by the word.

"It's worth it," he muttered, "once we've secured his loyalty we ca-"

Glynda's full armed slap almost sent him sprawling.

"You would _dare_ do something so…! So horrid!? So immoral!? _So monstrous!?"_

"He's only one person!" Ironwood ground out and spat red tinted spittle to the side. "Weighed against the countless lives he could secure if he worked for us, then yes! I would! And I would sleep better at night after I do it!"

Glynda stood there trembling from head to foot, her hands curling into fists as she visibly tried to bring herself under control, unknowingly saving Ironwood's life.

After all, if Raven transformed and killed him, then chances were that Glynda would react in time to stop her getting through a portal. No, in order to safely kill Ironwood, she'd have to kill Glynda at the same time.

Easy enough to do, they were close enough that she'd be able to decapitate the both of them with a single swing. But Glynda had stood up for her bundle of stupid, so she did not deserve to die.

Maybe if Raven hung around a little longer, they'd part ways? Though knowing Ironwood, his guard dogs were not far behind. They shouldn't be able to slow her enough for Glynda to come back and avenge Ironwood…but chances were they'd learned of Shirou's relationship to her, meaning she'd have to portal to him and get him out.

And if Ozpin had dangled finding Shirou's girl…the bastard was probably lying, but Shirou would hold out hope, meaning she'd have to waste time either persuading him or attempt to overpower him, and he was good enough to win almost as many spars against her as he lost.

He probably wouldn't pull out one of his Artefacts against her…_probably_.

Stupid Ironwood, and stupid Ozpin, and while she was at it stupid-

She spotted her bundle of stupid walking past a window and took flight, following him as he made his way through the school, Summer's kid trailing after him like a lost puppy.

Raven cocked her head, if the girl's expression was anything to go by, Ruby had taken a liking to her bundle of stupid, and Raven was entirely certain he had utterly failed to notice.

Maybe she could prod him into realizing her feelings and giving her a shot?

Raven clicked her beak in annoyance, forcing herself to focus on the matter at hand.

She used a combination of glimpses of Shirou and somewhat fuzzy memories of her years spent in these halls to follow his progress through the buildings. As they made a turn she'd not expected, she came to the realization that they'd given her stupid kid quarters in the student dorms.

_'Really?' _she thought. _'Couldn't you at least have _tried_ to be subtle? Stupid Ozpin.'_

She flew along the wall until she spotted Shirou through one of the windows, landed on the ledge, and returned to her human form.

She was getting ready to knock on his window when her scroll buzzing made her twitch in surprise. She hurried to get it out of her skirt, fumbled it, caught it between her wrist and her breast, and answered.

"Yeah?" she asked tersely.

"Hi Raven," Shirou said. "You wouldn't happen to have been worried about me being in Beacon, right?"

Fuck! Had he heard her? "Of course not!" she lied snappishly. "I'm busy running recon on…the Karmesinweg."

"Oh? And how is that going?" he asked. Was he being snide? He better not dare be snide with her.

"Well enough! What do you want? You got yourself hurt and need me to bail you out again?"

"Maybe I just missed you?"

Raven quashed the warmth that question spread in her chest. "Don't try to act cute, it doesn't suit you."

"Maybe I thought you missed me?" he continued, and Raven decided that the inflection in his voice was most certainly not amusement.

"Shi-ro-u." She growled.

"I'm just wondering because, you see, I spot the edge of a rather familiar black skirt at the edge of my window."

Raven cursed and took a step further away from the window. A few seconds later she heard it unlatch and Shirou's face leaned out, still holding his scroll to his ear. "Hmmm, so how goes that recon?"

"Shut up and get the hells out of my way." Raven growled and jumped into the room, turning her back to him while she waited for her cheeks to stop feeling warm. She spotted his armor lying by the bed, sloppy, he shouldn't take it off while in enemy territory.

She could see several nicks and gouges, and figured he was about to repair it. Still, that could have waited until he was in a safer place.

"Nice to see you too, Raven," he said easily.

She turned around and met his gaze. "You haven't agreed to anything?"

"I haven't."

"You haven't accepted anything?"

"Other than staying here a few days, no."

"Have they offered to find your girl for you?"

His breath hitched, his eyes gaining a familiar fevered intensity for a moment before they mellowed out again. "No."

There was something there, but she chose to concentrate on the important things. "Well, don't believe anything Ironwood tells you, I overheard him talking with Glynda. He's got someone with a Semblance that messes with people's minds. He's planning to mess with yours to make you think he found your girl and 'persuade' you to work for him."

His eyes became amber-hued flint. His face paled until he was white as a sheet. His posture changed subtly, lowering his center of gravity. His hands did not tighten into fists, rather they were loosely closed. The lines of his Semblance blazed into being running from the sides of his head down to his arms and the tips of his fingers. He exuded a quiet rage that seemed to drop the temperature of the room by several degrees.

Raven thought that maybe, just maybe, she could have delivered her warning a little more tactfully.

He turned and began to march to the door.

"Stop!" she said as she got in front of him and put a hand on his shoulder, but he did not heed her.

She activated her Aura and dug her heel into the floor, and he walked until his chest collided against hers. His shoulder was sun-warmed granite underneath her palm, likewise his core where it pressed against her.

"Shirou," she said sternly, moving her arms to hug him tightly as he tried to step around her, "Shirou, stop."

His breathing was steady and controlled, a good sign on anyone other than her bundle of stupid.

"Shirou, listen to me," she said, hoping that repeatedly using his name would snap him out of his anger. "You need to calm down."

He did not back down, but neither did he push any harder against her, his entire body taut as a coiled spring. When he spoke, his voice was cold and flat; a corpse would speak with more emotion than him. "I'll kill him."

"And that's fine," she said, tightening her hold on him in case he tried anything. "But he's surrounded by soldiers and armed robots. In the middle of an academy for Huntsmen, full of kids and adults armed to the teeth. I have no doubts you'll kill him, but can you kill him without killing a lot of other people?"

"Yes," he answered, still in that oddly flat, quiet voice.

"But can you _get away_ without killing a lot of other people?" she asked. Not that she'd care, but now that Ozpin knew of or at least suspected of their relationship, if he went crazy now, Ozpin could retaliate against the Branwen tribe, and since they weren't moving around as much as ten years ago that retaliation would be more difficult to defend against.

He finally stopped pushing, his chest and back turning from warm marble into flesh. His breathing hitched and gained a more natural rhythm.

She felt his arms encircle her and felt him bury his face in her shoulder. He began to shudder from head to foot as his breathing sped up.

Well, it_ had_ been a while since she comforted him, so she might as well let him get it out of his system.

"Hush," she said as she gently rubbed the back of his head. "Hush, it's okay, you're okay. He won't get away with it. You're aware of what he'll try so if he does, he'll fail. Hush, you're fine."

His hold on her tightened to the point that she grunted in discomfort. It took him a few minutes to calm down enough to relax.

"Yeah, Ironwood's an ass," she said as she caressed the back of his head, then grimaced. "Credit where it's due, Glynda slapped him for making the suggestion. Out of everyone here, she's probably the only one that would deal straight with you."

She felt him nod and hurriedly continued. "That doesn't mean you can trust her, you hear? In fact, it'd be better if we just leave right now before they try to pull anything. Come on we should just go home and forget this all ever-"

His arms tightening around her waist gave her the distinct impression that he was going to be difficult.

"Shirou," she said warningly.

He pulled away from her and put his hands on her shoulders. "No wait! At least hear me out! It's a good idea this time!"

Raven bit her tongue to keep herself from snapping at him. "What idea?"

"I'll get Ozpin to let me compete in the Vytal tournament!" he said with a big goofy grin.

Raven's mouth filled with the salty, coppery taste of blood.

"Yang and her team explained it to me!" he continued excitedly, his eyes shining. "Nearly all of Remnant tunes in to watch the Vytal tournament! And the ones who miss it soon hear of the results!

"The winner gets to make a short speech! So if I compete and win, I'll be able to use that speech to reach out to the girl! Even if she doesn't see it, she'll be told of it!" his grip tightened affectionately on her shoulders. "I might finally find her, Raven!"

As he continued to gush happily, Raven had to stop herself from scratching her temple; she had the slight suspicion that if she started, she'd not stop until she drew blood.

This was a terrible idea. If he revealed himself so blatantly to the world, then everyone who the Branwens protected would _know_ the fucking _Sword Hunter_ had lived among them for years.

Which meant that _that bitch_ would finally learn of Shirou's whereabouts, which meant that she'd start sending Killteams to put down her bundle of stupid for his propensity to annihilate Grimm.

Hells for all Raven knew, _she'd_ just ramp up the number of Grimm attacking their turf until they were utterly overwhelmed. Shirou could not pump out those swords indefinitely; he did eventually run out of Aura.

No, she had to stop him. She had to make herself understood, in no uncertain terms, that she would not allow him to go through with this sword-brained idea of his.

Except, looking at his face, she couldn't.

When was the last time she saw him smile? _Really_ smile, with that big goofy grin of his that threatened to split his face in two? Weeks? Months?

It couldn't have been years, surely.

And yet, here was that goofy grin as he babbled excitedly about a new dish he'd thought up so he could make it for that girl of his.

Raven could already imagine how it would go. She'd lay down the law, he'd object, they'd argue. She'd explain all the ways that his revealing himself would lead to danger for the tribe, for the people they protected.

He'd start listening, he'd nod, he'd eventually agree. And second by second, that grin would evaporate, the shine in his eyes would dull until they were as empty as a doll's eyes. They'd leave and continue to watch over Yang.

Over the weeks and months he'd resent her for taking this from him, and the worst thing will be that nothing would change; he'd still make her meals delicious, he'd still brush her hair, he'd still do what she told him.

Just as if she_ hadn't_ taken what might perhaps be his best chance yet at finding his girl.

"Raven?" His questioning tone broke her out of her thoughts. She could already see the light dimming in his eyes as he realized she did not share his enthusiasm.

Stupid swords-for-brains.

She stepped forward, buried her face in his chest, and used him to muffle her scream. She grabbed hold of his shirt to hold him in place when he tried to step back, and simply screamed until her lungs were empty.

Feeling a little better, she leaned back enough to be able to croak, "Fine."

"R-Raven?" he asked timidly.

"I said fine!" she growled. "No argument here! Alright!? Go compete in your stupid tournament! Win the gold! Say your damn speech!"

"Really!?" he asked. Damn him, did he have to sound so happy and excited? Would it kill him to make telling him 'no' a little easier?

She bumped her forehead against his sternum, it'd do for a wall. "Yes, really."

He engulfed her in a hug and picked her up so her feet dangled a few inches off the floor, saying "Thank you!" over and over.

"But you have to promise not to agree to anything too daming, Ozpin will try to use this as a way to get one of his slimy hooks in you," she warned.

"I won't!" he said excitedly.

"And remember, you cannot trust him, offer an inch and he'll take an acre. You _have_ to give him the absolute least possible recompense for the favor of participating in the tournament, and since you're the one approaching him he's set to bargain from a position of strength."

"I'll be careful!"

Yeah right, he wouldn't know 'care' if it reared up and bit him in the balls. She muffled another scream before growling, "I liked you more when I could throw you."

"Love you too, Mom," he said cheekily, before grunting when she punched him in the short ribs.

Forgetting to put her down, he launched into another rambling rant about finding his dumbass girl and cooking.

She'd have to remind him that he was still holding her…but that could wait. She couldn't help but wonder what being hugged by her daughter would feel like.

She did her best to vanish that useless pang of longing and, resting her forehead against Shirou's chest, let his excited rambling wash over her.

Hugs were surprisingly nice.

=][=

Emerald Sustrai was not having a good day.

She had spent the better part of two days and a night trying and failing to find anything at all about Ozpin's mysterious Huntsman guest.

She had assured Cinder that she'd have compiled a comprehensive file on the guy by the end of the day.

Specifically, by the end of the day _yesterday_.

A file she had yet to _start_.

She threw a glare at Mercury as he laid back on the bed reading a stupid comic book. She did not dare look toward Cinder, she'd not be able to meet her gaze at the moment. To fail so monumentally…

"Emerald," Cinder said, as if thinking about her had been a signal. "How goes that file you promised me?"

Emerald grimaced, she felt her face become uncomfortably hot, her mortification feeding off her shame.

"It…Please, I just need a little more time, Cinder," she muttered at the floor.

"Hmm?" Cinder hummed, lacing the sound with a slight chastisement that caused Emerald to flinch. "I'm sorry, Emerald, I'm afraid I did not hear you."

Emerald cleared her throat and tried to look up from the floor, but stopped at Cinder's legs. Now that she stopped to think on it, those tight fitting grey pants really suited her, showed off her figure quite well and—

"Emerald," Cinder said as she elegantly crossed her right leg over her left knee, her normally sultry voice becoming hard as a rock, "look at me when I talk to you."

Emerald slowly panned her eyes up Cinder's legs, past the sarashi tied around her waist, up her beige leather jacket, past the waves of her coal-black hair that she'd pulled in front of her left shoulder, past the ridge of her jaw and finally into her smoldering amber eyes, the fiery glow of her irises was decidedly displeased.

"Now, if you'd kindly repeat what you said." Cinder demanded with a slight smile.

Emerald gulped and fiddled with a lock of her mint green hair, before speaking in as sure a voice as she could. "Umm…I…I haven't started."

Even though Cinder's expression remained unchanged, the temperature in the room became stiflingly hot. She heard Mercury give a strangled gasp of surprise.

"Explain."

Emerald suppressed a grimace. "He's a ghost! It's like he doesn't exist! He has no digital bootprint whatsoever! No name, birth certificate, or even a social media account! His Scroll is a burner with no saved data beyond his room key, and that's registered to _'Guest 1060'! _ I tried running an image search, but because he's dressed like the Sword Hunter, I got several tens of thousands of returns. The guy is a ghost!"

The room got cooler as she explained. By the end of her explanation, Cinder was tapping her chin in thought. She turned her gaze to the only male in the room. "Mercury, what did you learn through your surveillance?"

Mercury sat up in bed, tossing his head to get his grey hair out of his eyes. "Nothing much really, other than Little Red sticking to this guy like gum to a boot. In fact, both those groups of annoyances are sticking pretty close to the guy.

"As far I was able to see, he just let Red pull him around the place and scowled at everything." He snorted. "You'd think the guy was the Sword Hunter with how much she's fawning over him."

Emerald saw the corner of Cinder's left eye twitch at the mention of _that man._ "What do you mean?"

Completely unaware of the pitfall he hovered over, Mercury scoffed. "The Sword Hunter is basically all Red talks about. She's the biggest fangirl I've ever seen. I actually feel a bit bad for Em, _she's_ had to actually sit through a few of Red's gushing sessions.

"It's just weird to see her fawning all over this guy, I figured she had the hots for the Sword Hunter," Mercury finished with a shrug.

Cinder turned back to look at Emerald. "Make me see an image of the Sword Hunter, and of this mysterious guest side by side."

"Umm…yes ma'am." Emerald said and activated her Aura. Her Semblance, Hallucinations, allowed her to make anyone she wanted see and hear whatever she wished. The only real caveat being that it took so much concentration that she couldn't manage to move at more than a slow walk while doing it, and using it on more than one person at once gave her headaches and nosebleeds.

She made Cinder see as accurate a representation of both the men she asked to see.

It was strange for Emerald, as she could see both the world as it was, and as she made Cinder see it. The space where the two illusionary men stood side by side at once empty and occupied.

Cinder stood and sashayed to the illusions, examining them in detail while muttering to herself in a low voice.

"You can't possibly think that…" Mercury began before swallowing nervously. "It can't be the _actual_ Sword Hunter, right?"

Emerald threw him a glare so he'd shut up. It worked as well as it usually did, which is to say not at all.

"I mean, he fought tooth and nail to _get out_ of seeing Ozpin. He wouldn't, you know, _come here_…Right?"

"Be silent," Cinder said distractedly. "Emerald, pull up the after action interviews of RWBY, JNPR and CVFY for the day of the Breach."

Emerald hurried to obey, but quickly furrowed her brows in confusion. "They…they're nowhere in Beacon's network. If they exist at all, then not even the Headmaster can access them."

Cinder was tapping her chin in thought while staring up at the face of the redheaded man, when her scroll buzzed. She absently pulled it out, and whatever she saw made her eyes widen in astonishment.

"What is it?" the question slipped out before Emerald could stop it, and she bit her tongue; Cinder did not like being questioned.

"There's been a sudden addition to the Vytal tournament," Cinder answered distractedly. "Our mystery man, Shirou, no last name given…is going to face off against teams that have been knocked out of the running."

Mercury and Emerald exchanged a confused look before he asked, "Which ones?"

"All of them," Cinder answered. "If any of them beat him, they're back in the tournament. If he beats all of them, he'll be granted a shot at first place."

Emerald felt sick to her stomach, this had to be a joke, or maybe a mistake, he _couldn't_ be the Sword Hunter. The former plan might have been able to keep him busy but Roman went and messed _that_ up.

Cinder's sultry chuckle snapped her out of her panicked spiral.

"Children" Cinder said with a beatific smile, her irises lighting up with a merrily dancing flame. "I have an idea."


	20. Announcement

_Awakens from a red haze of demon blood and guts._

Whuzza? Wha? Oh right.

Yo! Good saturday to y'alls.

No chapter today. Work was killer on the last two weeks. Urgh.

Not complaining, at least I still _have_ work. That's something a lot of people can't say.

Now don't any of you start hoping I lose my job so I'd have more time to write, cause when jobless I spend just about all of my day looking for work. Which means literally no writing. =c=

Anyways on to the important stuff. An announcement! I'm puttin' this story on a brief hiatus because there's a writing contest happening soonish and I want to write up an entry for it. So my creative efforts will be bent toward _that_ which will not leave me a lot of leftover brainpower for this here story.

That don't mean I'm abandoning the story, I quite like it and I still have the storyboard. It just means that my very limited writing time will be bent toward something else which might make me a bit of pocket money and give me some bragging rights.

No this isn't some dumb late April Fools prank. I really do just need/want to write up a thing for a writing contest.

Another thing. I've started posting this story on Space Battles, under the same name. If any of y'alls would prefer to read it there, feel free! Just, you know, try and leave me a comment and please don't spoil stuff for people over there. The story over there is also getting an overhaul, with better word choice and fixed punctuation.

I'm also planning to update the story here, so a chunk of you lot will get false update emails. If you click it and it takes you to the story and don't see a new chapter? That means that I updated one of the current chapters to have better formatting. So yeah, now you know, and knowing is half the battle.

Have a short story I've been feeling like writing for a while but couldn't find a place to fit it into the narrative! 8D

=][=

It was a beautiful spring day in Anima, the sun's rays illuminated the forest, birds of all sizes and colors frolicked and sang. A warm breeze lazily drove a few clouds before it and carried with it the faintest hint of hyacinth and jasmine. It was the type of day that demanded one enjoy it with a picnic, or perhaps a nap under the shade cast by a tree.

Raven stood in a clearing and glared at the beautifully crafted sword she gripped with the disgust one usually reserved for child molesters and mutineers.

Those went to the _special_ hell, the one reserved for people who talk at the theater.

"You're doing it wrong," Shirou called out, he looked quite comfortable sitting cross legged on top of a big flat rock. "Being all tense like that will just make it more difficult."

Raven brandished the sword and pointed it at him. "Easy for you to say mister Swords for Brains! 'Infuse it with your Aura' well I _am_ and it's still not glowing!"

Shirou tilted his head and squinted at the weapon. "That's because you're just covering it with your Aura, you're not infusing it. You have to get it _in_ there, really deep, imagine the weapon, everything about it, down to the smallest detail, clear your mind of all else and imagine your Aura sinking into it."

Raven glowered and glared at the sword, the oiled steel of its blade, the black leather of its handle, the faintly shimmering gem in its pommel. She imagined each of its components as best she could and tried to run her Aura through them.

The sword flashed red as it was covered by her Aura. She turned to Shirou as he stared intently at her. "And now?"

He squinted at the sword. "Better, but still too shallow."

Raven screamed and swung the sword at the nearest tree, the blade passed through the trunk with the same ease it parted air. As she began to wonder if the sword had done anything at all, a line as thin as a hair became visible as the top of the tree slid away from the bottom and fell noisily to the ground.

Raven blinked and ran her hand over the surface of the cut in the trunk, other than the sticky sap that the wound was starting to secrete, the surface was smooth. Damn but her bundle of stupid had some nice swords.

"Raven, what did that tree ever do to you?" he called out, and she felt her left eye twitch.

"Shirou," she growled.

"I mean," he continued heedlessly, "have you any idea how hard that tree worked to make the air you breathe? And _that's_ how you repay it?"

"You are on thin ice, Shirou," she warned.

"Not to mention," he said past a yawn, "if you don't control your temper, you'll never really get to the whole 'clarity of mind' you need t—"

"Shi-ro-u."

His mouth shut with a satisfying click. Seriously, ever since he hit his teens he had started to get more and more uppity. So he thought himself all that just because he had made most of the Branwen's weapons? And maintained them? And he _did_ salvage that one abandoned armored vehicle a while back…

Okay yes, the kid was pretty essential, and he _had_ managed to get a solid hit on her in a spar for the first time a couple weeks back, but he didn't have to be so smug about it.

Sure, she had been trying to encourage him to acknowledge his strength, and show the proper attitude for a warrior of his standing, but that did not give him the right to turn his jack-bootery on her!

"So how godsdamned detailed do I have to imagine this damn sword anyway!?" she demanded as she swung it about, enjoying the whistle it made as it cut through the air.

Shirou crossed his arms behind his head and leaned back. "Eeeeh…I guess you just need to picture your aura going through the grains of the blade? Try holding all of those in your mind at the same time and sink your Aura through the spaces between them, that should do it."

Raven stared at him in open shock. "That's bloody impossible! I don't exactly have a damn _microscope_ do I!?"

He shrugged, stupid Shirou with his stupid swords and his stupid weird Aura. So her stupid kid was a savant when it came to swords, what else is new?

"Fuck it!" she groused, "What's the step after this?"

He blinked. "But…but you haven't even managed step one yet."

"Don't care!" she said as she lined up a swing at another tree. "Teach me the next step!"

"Well okay, you just sympathize with the experience of its growth and let it guide your Aura through the actualization of the effect," he rattled off nonchalantly.

Raven stared, the twitch in her left eye brought friends. She pinched the bridge of her nose. "In Valeish, Shirou."

He blinked. "Which part confused you?"

"All of it!" she growled. "How exactly am I supposed to 'sympathize' with a _sword?_ It's a sharp piece of metal!"

"Well…it's what you do! You sympathize with it and then the rest of it just sort of does itself!"

Raven walked over to his boulder and loomed him. "Are you making this up just to make a fool out of me?"

His face paled and brought his hands up in a conciliatory gesture, "No! I swear! It's what you do! M-Maybe sympathize is the wrong word?"

"Well," she said and leaned further forward, causing him to press himself all the more tightly against his boulder. "I'm waiting."

"U-Um…y-you could try synchronizing with it?" he asked tremulously as she stood back up straight.

"Shirou," she said in a perfectly calm and reasonable tone, causing him to pale even further, which for some reason caused her to reach into a previously untapped well of irritation. "You have two seconds to start making sense."

He started to babble. Judge concept of this, hypothesize that, imitate something else, manufacture something or other. All the usual crap he spewed when he tried to explain his Semblance to people. Still, he seemed to be telling the truth, Shirou was many things but a good liar certainly wasn't one of them.

She sighed and plopped her hand down on top of his head, causing him to flinch. Her lips turned down in a grimace; she hadn't laid a hand on him in anger for six years and yet he still flinched.

Well, she hadn't _hit him_ in anger for six years, basically the same thing.

She did her best at tossing his head gently about. "Don't get your panties in a bunch, come on, let's head home. I'm getting hungry and you usually take some time to get lunch made right."

She turned her back on him and began to walk in the direction of the camp. Resting the sword on her shoulder, she briefly pondered making a portal to Vernal, but the day was nice enough that she felt like taking a stroll.

She heard Shirou sigh behind her before he spoke grumpily, "Well, guess it can't be helped. Seriously, how come I have to do all the cooking at camp?"

Raven smirked and turned around to look at him. "You know, I think you're right."

He froze.

"It _is_ kind of unfair that we lay so much work down on you." She grinned cruelly. "You've been teaching Vernal to cook right? We'll let her take care of cooking for a few days."

"N-No, wait, Raven—" he began tremulously.

"In fact," she continued as she tapped her chin in thought. "You've been working so diligently for so long that you clearly deserve a long break."

"W-Wait, Raven I really didn't mean it!" he implored as he walked up to her. "I'm sorry, I was joking! I won't do it again!"

"I'm thinking a month," she continued. Raven could have sworn she heard a mirror shatter. "Actually let's make that two. You deserve it as the second best warrior in the tribe."

He clutched feebly at her dress. "I already said I'm sorry! Please Raven!"

Raven sighed melodramatically. "Okay fine, I'll reconsider on one condition."

The hopeful light in his eyes turned to confusion as she picked him bodily up, spun him around twice and threw him a few dozen feet away.

"You beat me to the camp!" she yelled after him, turned around and sprinted away, trying and failing to hold her laughter in.

Shirou did, in fact, win that race by a hair's breadth. He stood in the camp, hunched over, covered in broken sticks, sap, leaves, and bleeding from a hundred little cuts and scratches, but he won.

He then proceeded to collapse and couldn't get up again, and had to spend the rest of the day in bed to recover.


	21. Cutting it Close

Ei. Been a while.

Sorry to tell ya, no, this does not mark the return to the bi-weekly schedule. Work has been absolutely killer these last few weeks, I pulled on average fifteen hours overtime a week, working on the weekends as well. This was the first weekend where I got to simply _relax_. So sorry to say, I've gotten next to no writing done.

I did however! Write this little side-story to get it out of my brain! I rather enjoyed it, hopefully some of y'alls will enjoy it too!

And I'mma try and preempt something. Don't be all salty at me cause this isn't the chapter you wanted. Told you already, I write for funsies. Making money comes first cause I rather enjoy not living in the streets, and I rather enjoy eating. I'll get to continuing the story when I get to it.

As to this post itself...methinks guys will understand it a bit better than girls.

Or maybe not.

Anyhow.

A reminder to check your PMs!

Have a snippet! 8D

=][=

Shirou scratched his cheek, the patches of stubble on his cheeks and neck irritated him immeasurably. Neither Raven nor Vernal knew how to shave a face, and asking for help from one of the men of the tribe would feel like giving up, but it really was getting to the point of being too annoying to withstand.

Shirou blinked. He'd copied fighting skills from the weapons in his inner world—it was, in fact, how he'd first fought the Creatures of Grimm—but could he copy _other _skills as well? He closed his eyes and searched through the thousands of blades in his world. A minute later he held in his hand a simple straight razor with a wooden grip worn smooth by use.

The tool of one Swenson Todor, a master barber who had also pulled more than a hundred teeth in his years of practice, murderer of seven men and one woman via one swift and smooth stroke of the blade that severed the carotid arteries on both sides of the neck.

Shirou plumbed through the history of the weapon, but could find little else of note. Weird how the murderer's name had nothing to do with color, but then again, that had only really become a thing in the last seventy-something years.

He prepared hot water, a bar of soap, and Traced a boar-bristle brush and mirror, and blinked in confusion. He gleaned from the history of the knife that he'd require water and soap, and he could see why a mirror would come in handy, but why had he made a brush?

He felt something grab hold of the air in his lungs and pull it out. Had he not been sitting, he would have fallen to his knees.

He and most of the tribe turned their heads in Vernal's direction, her arms fully extended as she grimaced with effort, sweat fell in rivulets down her face as the hot and humid air was swept away by a cold breeze. Thick and grey clouds soon swept over the sky and blotted out the sun.

Shirou could feel it, a vast power that brought to mind petrichor, wildly diverse pollens, riotous color, and intense competition. A power that was at once as gentle as the softest breeze and as heartless as a monsoon. He could feel it swirling, an immense vortex whose strength fueled a great rebirth and renewal that all life depended upon.

A vortex whose eye stood not thirty feet from him, held firmly in check by Raven Branwen who wielded it with the same skillful ease one only ever saw in master musicians. "Good!" she said, crossing her arms beneath her breasts and leaning back, the skies rumbling as she shifted her weight. "Now hold it in place, then disperse it!"

Vernal nodded, her grimace of effort deepening as Raven calmed the enraged skies until nothing more than a few clouds remained. Vernal bent forward and rested her hands on her knees as she panted.

"Alright," Raven said, tossing her head to get her hair out of her eyes. "Take five."

'_Marble Phantasm.' _The thought came unbidden as it always did when he saw Raven practice. He did not know what it meant, but could not help but feel that it was wrong. That what he witnessed was somethingwholly different. That it merely produced a similar _result_. Which was weird, because knowing it was different did not help him figure out what a Marble Phantasm was in the first place.

Raven turned to look at him, tilted her head a little, and began to make her way over, leaving Vernal to sit down and pretend to be utterly wiped out by her 'practice.'

He'd never quite understood the need for that particular deception. What did it matter if it was Raven or Vernal who could control the weather? Shirou had a sword that could do it, except where Raven could control that immense power to shift a needle, Shirou could only ever wield it as a maul; he was as likely to make a drizzle as he was to make a storm.

"Hey Shirou." Raven said with a small smile that was nothing like her usual cocky smirk. "So you finally caved in and asked someone to teach you how to shave?"

Shirou blinked in confusion and looked at himself in the mirror, and started in surprise at his pristine and smooth cheeks. Had he synchronized with the straight razor without meaning to? "I…no?"

Raven tilted her head. "So what, you just knew how to shave?"

"I…think so?" Shirou asked, turning back to her. "I'm not sure?"

Raven shrugged. "Well whatever, looks like you did a pretty good job."

She then unceremoniously cupped his left cheek with one hand and paused, her expression gaining a strange intensity.

"R-Raven?" he asked uncertainly.

She slowly brought her other hand to his face and began to rub his cheeks. "Holy shit kid, your skin is _really_ smooth."

"Eh?"

Raven looked over her shoulder without once pausing her motions. "Hey Vernal! Get off your lazy ass and get over here! You gotta check this out!"

"Raven, w-wait, stop," Shirou pleaded.

Raven ignored him.

"What's up?" Vernal asked.

"Feel his cheeks," Raven answered.

"Eh?"

"Shut up and feel his cheeks," Raven demanded, finally stepping away and leaving him alone.

Shirou's relief was short-lived as Vernal laid a hand on his cheek, then started to rub his face not unlike Raven had. "Woah."

"I know, right?" Raven whispered.

"It's so totally unfair!" Vernal whispered back.

"_I know, right!?"_

"Guys…stop." Shirou said, his face feeling uncomfortably hot.

"How come his skin is this smooth? He doesn't take care of it at all!" Vernal shoutspered indignantly.

"V-Vernal, please stop," Shirou pleaded and leaned back, only for his back to smack against something.

"Move over," Raven said from behind him and cupped his neck and cheeks. "Honestly, this is so unfair. So what, not only do you have a ton of swords, know how to cook, are a great mechanic and have weird artefacts, you're also a barber? Who the hells taught you all this crap!?"

"Raveeeeen!" he sulked.

"Seriously, I don't think you missed a single hair, what the hells? Qrow's cheeks always felt like sandpaper after he shaved, but yours are smooth as a baby's ass!"

Shirou choked on his indignation.

"Oi, Sylvie!" Vernal called, causing Shirou's blood to turn to ice. "Get over here and check this out!"

"Nooooooo!" Shirou lamented, but trapped as he was between Raven and Vernal, he could not make the hasty exit he desired. His dread was compounded when he saw that they'd drawn a crowd.

It was a long time before the women of the tribe let him run away.


	22. Interulde: Sword and Board

Yo. I am, in fact, not dead.

Thanks for the well-wishes. But uhh...really guys, please pay attention to author's notes. Work continues to be super ugh. I write this for the funsies, if I'm too exhausted to think at the end of the day, chances are I won't be writing. It's just how it is.

No I don't know how long work will continue to be tough. The world is in such a state at the moment that, frankly, I'm just happy I still have my job, lotta people can't say the same. Lotta people are going through even worse stuff.

Point is, I can't promise I'll be able to spend time writing for funsies thanks to being too brain dead from work. That doesn't mean I've dropped the story. It means I haven't had the chance to write. So...yeah. I'll let yall know when stuff has calmed down enough that I can be semi-certain I'll be able to go back to a regular update schedule.

Thanks for all the well wishes though!

Anyways, depressing stuff aside, have an interlude! Think of this as basically chapter 15 and a half.

This interlude will hint at differences in the timeline. I'll leave it to yall to fill in the blanks.

...

Yeah.

Strategic something or other. ( o.o)

=][=

Jaune breathed deeply and slowly, trying to slow his hammering heart as he set his stance in the too-familiar sparring room.

"This match is to continue until one capitulates, or the Aura of the combatants drops beneath fifteen percent!" Pyrrha called out from the stands.

This was it, the time to see how close to his goal he actually was, to get a true measure of the fruits of his labors. He only wished his heart wasn't thudding in his ears with a combination of trepidation and abject panic.

Jaune drew his sword and deployed his shield. _Crocea Mors,_ his companion in all his trials. Before him, like an insurmountable wall stood his ultimate goal, the greatest Hero that Remnant had ever known. The Sword Hunter, in the flesh.

Or Shirou, as he insisted on being called.

"Combatants, get ready!" Pyrrha called out.

The Sword Hunter had not been what Jaune had expected. He had expected someone as regal as he was powerful, as wise as he was mysterious, and as magnanimous as he was swift. Jaune had been very surprised to learn he was taciturn and, truth be told, rather awkward.

He took a quick glance at the Aura monitor. Jaune's Aura stood at a pristine one hundred percent, while the Sword Hunter's was at eighty five, still not fully recovered from his earlier match with Pyrrha.

Jaune wasn't sure how to feel about that, but he'd not say no to an advantage.

"Be—!"

Remembering Pyrrha's match, Jaune ducked behind his shield, the black sword the Sword Hunter threw impacted against_ Crocea Mors _with such force that Jaune was almost knocked off his feet.

"—gi—!"

An immense force slammed into the side of his shield and flung his arm to the side. He felt a powerful slash cut into the right side of his neck, a white flash preceded blinding agony from his forehead, lines of fire crossed his stomach.

"—n!"

A hammer blow slammed into his right wrist, numbing it completely and causing his sword to fall from nerveless fingers. He felt something cold slice into his armpits from below with such force that his feet left the ground. An instant later the cold kiss of steel preceded unimaginable agony as something tore into his knees with shearing force.

Jaune was swept sideways to the point that his body was parallel to the floor. He was able to see the ceiling but for an instant before a black sword swept down into his neck and slammed him to the floor where, thankfully, the attacks stopped.

It took him a few seconds to remember he was in a match and he climbed painfully to his feet, his eyes instinctively glancing at the Aura monitor where he froze.

He was down to seventy percent. Him, Jaune, the one whose only redeeming quality was his endurance in a fight. He was used to having to be pummeled quite a bit more before dropping by even fifteen!

He turned his disbelieving eyes to the Sword Hunter, and was surprised to see his idol had lowered his hood and mask and was scowling in confusion at him.

Jaune levered himself to his feet, picked up his sword and reset his stance, but the Sword Hunter did not repeat his earlier assault.

So Jaune stepped forward, let out a battle cry and launched into his basic three hit combo, a shield bash, a horizontal slash, and a transverse cut from right shoulder to left hip.

The Sword Hunter effortlessly evaded all three attacks.

Jaune worked all of his combinations, doing his best to utilize all of the skill that he had gained and that Pyrrha had helped him hone.

It was like trying to cut smoke. The Sword Hunter flowed around Jaune's attacks with effortless grace, not even bothering to block or parry. Only now Jaune realized how amazing Pyrrha was, as she'd forced him to block and had even managed to land several hits of her own. And here Jaune couldn't even land a glancing blow!

He grit his teeth angrily when he saw the Sword Hunter staring distractedly at_ Crocea Mors_, when suddenly he blinked and looked…sheepish?

Then the two swords disappeared, and with a flash of azure light he was suddenly holding _Crocea Mors._

Jaune's mind blanked, he _knew_ the sword and shield, every nick and scratch, the weapon they both held was indeed the Arc family heirloom. Jaune had known the Sword Hunter could call out weapons, but he'd read through so many theories and forum posts that had worked out all the math behind his Semblance.

The universal consensus was that he summoned his weapons from a pocket dimension, otherwise the preservation of Mass and Energy simply didn't add up! Could he have run across a sister weapon to _Crocea Mors?_ But then why did it have all of the same scratches? Down to that small dent he'd not had the time to buff out yet.

Jaune shook his head. That was unimportant to the sparring match. The Sword Hunter fought primarily with two weapons, it stood to reason that he might not be as good with a sword and shield. Clearly he'd been disappointed with Jaune's performance and had given himself a handicap.

Jaune was about to step forward when he noticed the differences in the Sword Hunter's stance.

At first glance the stance he took mirrored Jaune's own, but he was crouched a little lower, his shield angled a little more, and he had the entirety of his right arm hidden behind the shield.

Jaune wondered at that before dismissing it. He stepped forward and slashed at the Sword Hunter, who once again drifted aside like smoke, except this time the shield collapsed to its sheathe form and his shield arm flashed forward in a lightning fast jab.

Jaune barely managed to duck behind his own shield, the vibration of the strike traveling all the way up his shoulder, when suddenly _something_ hit him in the forehead so hard his vision was filled with sparks. He tried a blind thrust to get some space, but met only air. When his vision cleared, he saw his opponent had backed off. The Sword Hunter's shield was unfurled; he'd deployed it after the impact, and that's what had hit him on the forehead.

Why hadn't Jaune ever thought of doing that?

Jaune shook his head and advanced, only for the Sword Hunter to once again collapse the shield to its sheathe form, he shifted forward and delivered a powerful punch to Jaune's shield, deploying his own at the moment of impact, the resulting force shoved Jaune's arm into his chest and all but drove him to the floor.

Once more, he refused to capitalize on the advantage.

Jaune reset again and rushed forward. The Sword Hunter collapsed the shield again, his right arm blurred and Jaune felt a stinging pain on his forehead, the impact of the lighting fast stab sent him stumbling back. When he regained his bearings he saw that the Sword Hunter was hiding behind the shield again.

Jaune shook his head and advanced more cautiously. The moment he was in range the Sword Hunter collapsed the shield for an instant again and made a lighting quick stab at Jaune's left shin, his arm was back to his side with the shield deployed once more before Jaune could retaliate.

Jaune grit his teeth and suppressed the urge to throw himself forward recklessly. He chanced another quick peek at the Aura monitor.

That proved to be a mistake as he heard the unmistakable sound of the shield being collapsed, felt a stinging pain in the center of his forehead, sending his head reeling back. He recovered in time to see the Sword Hunter take an aggressive step forward and stomped hard on Jaune's leading foot, swing the sheath at the edge of Jaune's shield and deployed it at the moment of impact, the force behind the strike further unbalanced him, he tried to step back but lost his balance as he was unable to lift the foot pinned by his opponent.

A strike with the guard of the sword at his neck slammed him to the floor, and lastly he saw the Sword Hunter collapse the shield again and drive his fist down at Jaune's neck, the shield deploying at the moment of impact to make the strike at his neck blind him with pain.

When next he was aware, he was curled up, his throat felt as if it were on fire, and he heard the fading whine of the buzzer. Was that the match? That quickly? He looked at the Aura monitor and saw that he was sitting at nine percent.

The Sword Hunter was untouched at eighty five.

Thinking of the devil, he crouched by Jaune's head and began speaking in a monotone. "You rely on your defense to the point of inflexibility, once someone bypasses or manages to batter through, you are left reeling and exposed, you need to recover faster or what happened here will repeat itself in a far more dangerous situation.

"You need to learn your limits," he stated, and Jaune flinched. "There were several times when I could have punished you severely for looking at the Aura monitor. I only took advantage of one. Taking your eyes off an enemy that's faster than you is asking to die. Don't make it easy on your enemy by habitually dropping your guard.

"Furthermore, you are not using your weapon to its full potential. The shield folding down to a sheathe is useful for more than just easy transportation. Figure out the right timings for using the unfolding of the shield in an attack." He stood up and started walking away, then called out to Jaune over his shoulder. "You have the basics down, try and come up with a few tricks for your shield. Tell Pyrrha to stop holding back on her Semblance when you practice. You'll improve faster once she stops going easy on you."

He reached the door and without another word, walked out.

Jaune let his head thump back to the floor and muttered. "I didn't even get him to fire a single sword…Figures I'm less than nothing to him…dammit."

He blinked away the burning in his eyes. He knew he'd not do well—he'd seen the match against Pyrrha; he was under no illusions that he'd stood a chance. But to not even make him drop by one percent?

"Jaune? Are you okay?" Pyrrha's voice dragged him out of his thoughts, he turned to look at her as she crouched by his head. She looked worried and sad, so he chalked that up as another of his many failures.

"Hey Pyr…" he muttered, trying to summon up a smile for her, by the look on her face, he failed. "Sorry, I'm uhh…I need a bit before I get up."

She wordlessly lifted his head, shuffled forward and gently lowered his head to her lap. Jaune felt his cheeks coloring, the memory of the Sword Hunter cradling her cheeks and staring into her eyes came unbidden to the forefront of his mind once again and he swallowed thickly. "Pyrrha, what are your thoughts about the Sw-about Shirou?"

She blinked and tilted her head in confusion. "Well…He always looks angry but I feel that that is a mask he uses to keep others at bay." She furrowed her brows in thought. "He seems aware that Ren blames him for something, but does not seem interested in asking why. Most people would have confronted Ren for his attitude already, yet he seems almost disinterested…Maybe he's just not a people person? Or maybe he's lived a sheltered life?"

"And he beat you in a fight." Jaune said when she trailed off.

Pyrrha nodded. "Indeed, he's a superlative warrior. I've not met anyone who pushed me quite that hard before. I'm glad he agreed to spar with me again."

Jaune groaned and sat up, then found he couldn't turn back to face his partner, but the question that had gnawed at the back of his mind for the last two weeks, ever since the day of the Breach, would not be kept silent any longer. "But…do you…I mean…"

"Yes?" Pyrrha prompted when he trailed off.

"I…" Jaune took a deep breath, then the mental image of Shirou leaning his face so close to Pyrrha came to him again, and he almost coughed the words out. "But do you like him?"

Pyrrha was quiet for a long time before saying, "What."

"I mean…not if you like fighting him!" Jaune said quickly. "I mean do you _like _like him!?"

"Jaune…I mean…" Pyrrha said, her voice strangely flat. "I just…what."

"Cause…" Jaune said, still unable to face Pyrrha. "I mean…the day of the Breach, he cradled your face…and got so close! And…Ruby seems convinced that he has a thing for redheads, and _you_ are like…the most beautiful redhead in the whole world! And he's the _Sword Hunter_, so like, the Sword Hunter has a thing for you! And I wanted to ask if you have a thing for him back! Because it would make sense cause he's super strong! And fast! And Ruby and Yang and Velvet all say he's handsome! And he can beat you in a fight! _And he's the Sword Hunter!_"

"I! Jaune, no! I don't!" Pyrrha shouted, and the words caused incalculable relief to flood his chest. "If anything he has a thing for Yang."

Jaune turned to face Pyrrha so quickly he almost got whiplash. "What?"

Pyrrha nodded, her face was flushed red. Had he made her angry? "I mean…I _think _he does, it's difficult to get a read on him because he's always scowling."

"So…you…you don't…you're not _interested_ in him?" Jaune asked hopefully.

Pyrrha shook her head so hard her ponytail whipped back and forth.

Jaune gulped, took a deep breath, and forced the words out in a shrill rush. "Areyouinterestedinme!?"

Pyrrha's mouth fell open.

"I-I mean!" Jaune stuttered as he launched himself to his feet. "It's just…ever since the Breach I keep remembering how he got so close to you! And it made me feel awful! But then I was thinking that what right have _I _got to be jealous? He's _the Sword Hunter_, there's literally nobody better! But I still wanted to ask! And so I thought that if I did well in the tournament then I'd have _proven _that it would be okay for me to try and…you know…and tell you that…"

His face felt hotter by the syllable, he trailed off feeling a little dizzy. Pyrrha had turned away from him, her hair forming a curtain that hid her eyes.

Pyrrha cleared her throat. "I thought you were going out with Weiss?"

Jaune blinked. "I mean…sure, she's pretty? And we did go on that one date, and it was a complete disaster. We keep on friendly terms because teams RWBY and JNPR work together a lot but…yeah."

Pyrrha turned to him, her eyes wide. "So…you mean…all this time…you two _haven't _been dating!?"

Jaune scratched his cheek. "I…No? Why would you think that?"

"But you went with her to the Beacon dance!" Pyrrha accused as she jumped to her feet.

"I mean, yeah, but that was because she asked for my help in making the guy she liked jealous," Jaune said slowly. "And it sort of worked? I think? Remember how a bit after it started, I just hung out with you? The guy she liked got all panicked and begged her to spend the rest of the night with him, so job well done."

"B-But! You spent all that time with her in the library!" Pyrrha said, her voice getting louder and higher in pitch by the word.

Juane shrugged. "She was helping me with an essay on the ratios of Dust Mixing for different effects and…well…she's a Schnee."

"So," Pyrrha said slowly, "you've been…available…all this time?"

Jaune blinked. "Wait…do you mean you…you uhh…"

Pyrrha buried her face in her hands. "Yes! Jaune! To answer your question, I like you!"

"Y-You mean you uhh…you _like _like me?" Jaune asked hopefully.

Pyrrha lowered her hands just enough to be able to glare at him from behind the shield they made. "Yes, I _like _like you, you gradeschooler! I've _liked _liked you from the day we've partnered up! I've _liked _liked you since the day we met! I've been kicking myself this whole time because I thought I'd missed my chance!"

"B-But!" Jaune gasped, his mouth agape. "But you're Pyrrha Nikos! You could have literally anyone you wanted! You're super smart! And beautiful! And strong! And a super champion! Why would you like a nobody like me!?"

Pyrrha's face seemed to get redder with every word he said. "Are you trying to talk me _out _of liking you!?"

"NO!" he shouted in panic. "I'm super stoked! And I like you too! And I've been wanting to tell you that since…since a long time! But I just…" Jaune sighed and finished in a whisper. "How could I ever be good enough for _you,_ Pyrrha? I'm…I'm a nobody, I'm not strong at all, you're the main reason why we've made it so far in the tournament. I thought that…that if I did well against _him _then…I guess I would prove to myself that I was good enough? But…but I sucked so bad he beat me with my own weapon to show me how much of a failure I am."

He twitched when Pyrrha cradled his face in her hands and turned his head until she could look him in the eye. "Jaune Arc, if you keep badmouthing the boy I like I will get mad at you."

Jaune blinked while he tried to work his way through that statement, the fact that she was so close made processing difficult, was that perfume or did she just smell good? "Umm…I'm…sorry?"

"Okay, so I _like _like you, you _like _like me, we _like _like each other. You're not dating Weiss Schnee, and I'm tired of talking like a gradeschooler. Now, Jaune Arc, I will only say this once so pay attention." Jaune tried to nod but couldn't due to her grip on his head. "I don't care about how good a fighter you are; I don't like any other boys in this school, I doubt the Sw-_Shirou _is interested in me, and even if he was we are not cavemen for him to smack me in the head with a sword and carry me off. So we are going to a restaurant this weekend and maybe we'll watch a movie and we'll take it from there, deal?"

"I umm…yes?" Jaune asked.

"Okay good." She kissed him.

It was a chaste peck on his lips, it wasn't passionate and it was over almost as soon as it started.

"U-Um…I-I mean…that…" Pyrrha stammered, her face as red as her hair. "That seemed like a good idea at the time."

And then she ran away.

Later that evening, the students and faculty of Beacon were treated to the unusual sight of Nora carrying what seemed to be a statue of her team leader, an expression of mixed shock and elation on its face.


	23. Pair of Omakes

Heyo.

Chapter proper is coming immediately after this one. Just thought that I'd take the opportunity to post these two Omakes penned by other people in the Space Battle's thread.

I liked them so much that I made them 'canon' to this story! 8D

This first one is penned by Keel the Swift, my Beta. And it takes place during the events of Ch 14.

The second one is penned by Worldbringer of Joseun and it takes place after Jaune's interlude.

Hope ya'lls enjoy! 8D

=][=

_Red Maintenance_

"Ok, so this is my sweetheart, Crescent Rose." There was a small cacophony of clacks and scratching metal as Ruby unfurled her scythe. "I made her myself. She's a High Caliber Sniper-Scythe, bolt action, with a custom barrel capable of firing munitions at a range of—"

"—Two kilometers when the barrel is fully extended, though it loses a lot of its precision when fired in its more compact form in exchange for better handling." Shirou nodded. "You also use custom-made Gravity Dust-laced rounds in order to propel yourself with the increased recoil; a good complement to your movement-based Semblance." His mouth twitched in a slight smile. "It suits you."

Ruby smiled up at him shyly. "Thanks. I had originally intended to give it a sword form, but I couldn't do that without sacrificing too much of either the barrel's length or integrity."

"Yes, any dent in the barrel would ruin the rifle's accuracy. That's why you reinforced the scythe's shaft by encasing it in a softer metal to better absorb any impact. The casing can then be hammered back to true at your leisure."

"Yes! Exactly!" Ruby's eyes positively sparkled as she beamed at him. Finally! Someone who gets weapons like she does. "Wanna hold her?"

Shirou tilted his head slightly, his scowl lessening with his raising eyebrows. He eventually nodded and accepted her weapon with the appropriate gravitas.

When Ruby was certain he had a firm grip her baby, she relinquished her hold. She fidgeted and watched as his eyes roamed over the length of her scythe, a slight frown marring his face as he examined Crescent Rose in detail, his fingers gently tracing over certain parts.

"So… do you like it?" she asked.

"It doesn't matter if I like it," he answered absently as he expertly collapsed the scythe into its rifle form and unfurled it again, "so long as the weapon works." His frown deepened.

Her shoulders slumped at his dismissal. Was that his way of politely saying he wasn't impressed? She remembered the slight grimace her Uncle Qrow had when she told him her ideas. Did Shirou disapprove?

"Well, even though I couldn't fit the sword idea on Crescent Rose, that does not mean I fully gave up on it. So, I also made this." She unholstered her other weapon and presented it. "_This_ is Crescent Rose's baby sister, Rosethorn. She's a 10-gauge semi-automatic shotgun and shortsword."

Shirou paused as he set down a part of Crescent Rose's casing. "You have a second mecha-shift weapon?"

She jerked her head in an eager nod. "Uh-huh. I really wanted to have a sword, even if it was a backup weapon since… you know…" She chuckled shyly. What _would_ he say if she admitted it was because of him? Would he smile and nod in approval? Would he want to be even closer friends because they use the same kind of weapons? Would he tell her to pick her own style?

His eyes flicked over her, as though trying to find something. "And they let you?"

She nearly snorted. "Uncle Qrow almost didn't let me—something about how it's better to master one weapon than be merely good at two." Actually, he said a whole bunch more than that, but that was the gist of it. "Still, I eventually convinced him that I will not fall behind my peers with _either_ weapon. And knowing how awesome I will be, he was happy to help me forge Rosethorn."

Shirou looked up from his ministration of Crescent Rose. "He was happy to help you?" he repeated in a question, eyes flicking down at Rosethorn. "Are you sure he was… 'happy' to help you and not… you know, drinking himself to sleep every night?"

Her smile widened. "Oh, well he _was_ kinda grouchier than usual, buuuuut he still helped me construct _both_ of my weapons."

"I see," he stated, before shrugging and returning his attention to… the pieces of…

"Wait, what are you doing!?" she _didn't_ shriek, thank you very much. She merely kneeled down to get a closer look at Shirou's handiwork.

"Reassembling it," he answered as his hands moved in snap, crisp motions. "I've finished cleaning the chamber and the barrel. I've also optimized the mecha-shift components to improve both the transformation speed and reduce the lurch. That way you can immediately sight the rifle without worrying about the weapon's shifting weight and moving parts throwing off your aim."

With one last slap, the last piece of Crescent Rose was put back in place. Then with a quick flourish, he spun the scythe as it folded back down into its compact form, and presented the weapon back to its owner.

_So… cool…_ Ruby gingerly picked Crescent Rose up and inspected her. Shirou had somehow known exactly how to properly dismantle her baby for maintenance. Even the bolts were aligned as she liked it; a small measure Uncle Qrow had taught her to detect tampering.

With a swish of her arm, the scythe was unfurled with a series of clacks. The sound of scraping metal replaced by the whisper of metal parts gliding effortlessly along each other. _Pity, I kinda liked that sound._

She swung the scythe around, shifting its form midswing. The motion felt effortless, as though her weapon _wasn't_ shifting its weight along the shaft.

"Wow…" she whispered. Normally, she never let anyone else touch her weapons; they wouldn't even know where to _begin_. Yet here, Shirou could assemble her weapon almost as quickly as she could. "How'd you do that?"

He shrugged. "It's just something I've always been able to do. Back at th—_ahem_—back at home, I'm the one in charge of fixing and maintaining the equipment."

Her eyes practically sparkled as she rushed up to him. "Really!?" she asked, vibrating on the spot. "What sort of weapons have you worked with? How many have you worked on? Can you tell me about them? Can you tune up Rosethorn as well?"

He blinked, as he absently accepted the shotgun-sword hybrid. Then his other hand rose up and seemed to pull a ring-handle out of the air. Two crescent blades extended from the side, forming a pincer.

She positively squealed as she snatched the weapon out of his hand and began swinging them around. Seeing that she wasn't about to hurt herself, Shirou shrugged and turned his attention to the weapon in his hands.

"So what's its name?" she asked.

"It doesn't have one," he answered without looking up.

"Eh?" She turned a shocked stare at him. "But how could it not have a name? _Every_ huntsman weapon has a name!"

"Well, she's not a huntress," he answered matter-of-factly. "Honestly, I don't think anyone in my tribe had any huntsman training, other th—"

He froze, and his scowl deepened.

"Tribe?" Ruby repeated curiously.

His hands reassembled Rosethorn in a blur. "I've streamlined Rosethorn's transformation. It should be fast enough for you to alternate firing and slashing with every step. It can also now break down a Dust shell to imbue the blade with either fire or lightning. I've also modified the barrel so that you'll get a tighter pellet spread, which should make it viable for midrange combat with pellets as well as slugs."

She stared at him in wonder as her hands absently accepted her weapon back. Why did Shirou suddenly seem so nervous? Did she say something wrong? Was being from a tribe something bad? Was that why Uncle Qrow never talked about where he came from?

"Um… Hey, I don't mind if you come from a tribe," she reassured. "Uncle Qrow also came from a tribe, and he's still my cool uncle."

Somehow, despite his face barely shifting from its usual scowl, his eyes took on a panicked cast and he clenched his hands so hard his knuckles popped. Ruby felt her heart drop. She made it worse. How was she making it worse? How does she stop!?

It was like the start of the year all over again. She hadn't been kidding when she had told Yang she was bad at making friends. Why did that have to come back now!? And with her Hero of all people!? Why did Ruby have to ruin everything!?

She lurched as she somehow lost her balance… No wait, she didn't lose her balance, she realized. She felt Shirou's strong arms wrapped around her, holding her firmly to his chest. _Ohmygosh, I can hear his heartbeat!_

"Uh… there there?" Shirou awkwardly soothed as he rubbed slow circles on her lower back. "Whatever it is can't hurt you? ...Is that how that went? Hrm..."

Despite the blood rushing to her face, she still had enough presence of mind to sense _something_ off about what he had just said. "Bwuh?"

"Uhh… You were looking a bit panicked there," he said sheepishly. "My mom and sister did this for me when I was … having bad thoughts. It always helped me."

He looked down at her. "Is it working?"

"Umm…" Ruby vacillated. She battled the urge to hide her face by pressing it against his large, muscular, warm chest. He smelled like gun oil and oak smoke—why was she thinking about what he smelled like!? "Yes? Keep doing it."

"Umm...Okay, sorry, I'm probably pretty bad at it. Umm… Hush? It'll all be fine? Hrm… this is harder than I thought."

Ruby reveled in his warmth as he continued to awkwardly try to soothe her. A part of her wondered what could possibly scare him enough that his mom and sister would need to hold him. Also, being hugged by a boy was surprisingly nice.

That last thought in particular made her face feel painfully hot, so she leaned back and squeaked, "I think I'm good now."

He let go of her and stood back, the sudden loss of his warmth made goosebumps rise across her arms and a part of her felt kind of sad that he wasn't hugging her anymore. She shook her head hard—she needed to get her head out of the clouds and convince him to stay in Beacon and come up with joint attacks together!

He was currently examining the bunk beds. She could hear him muttering a question about how they could be so stable.

She shuffled closer to him. "So uh… do you really plan on leaving tomorrow?"

He turned his scowl at her and nodded.

"Do you have to?" she asked.

"There's no reason for me to stay here."

"What do you mean? This is Beacon, the best Huntsman Academy in all of Remnant!"

"Except I'm not a Huntsman, nor do I plan on being one," he said as he gave Ruby's bed a gentle shove, but the ropes held firm.

Ruby jerked at his proclamation. "Huh? But… aren't you protecting people? Like—" She hesitated for a moment. "—didn't you just save Vale from being overrun by Grimm?"

"I just happened to be in the area when that happened," he muttered without meeting her eyes. He rubbed the back of his head. "And it's not like I need to have a Huntsman license to help people, right?"

She opened her mouth to argue, but the words died in her throat. It was true. As cool as it would be if Shirou could join them at Beacon—maybe even become a fifth member of her team—he was already strong enough that she wasn't even sure he _needed_ to be here. And he was already out there protecting people and saving towns and even cities. Would it really be a good idea to make him stop for four years just so he could do what he already does more officially?

She turned away, pulling out her scroll. "Alright then. If we only have so little time left, then let's just make the most of it!" Tapping a few buttons, the dormitory's television screen turned on. "Do you wanna play Kung-Fu Ninja Slayer Ultimate Death Battle 2?"

Shirou blinked. "Sure?"

She smiled as she helped him connect his scroll to her console. He awkwardly followed her instructions as they settled down in front of the tv.

She tried to swallow the knot that formed in her throat, and, gathering her courage, she croaked, "Just… Could you please promise me one thing?"

Shirou turned his head slightly to stare at her, eyebrow raised in question.

"Promise me that this won't be the last time I ever see you, that you'll keep in touch, that…" Ruby shifted her seated position, resting her chin behind her knees. "Promise me that you'll come back, that you won't disappear for years and years again."

She closed her eyes, not daring to look at him, waiting for his response. Her chest felt as if bands of iron were clasped around it.

Suddenly, his large warm hand was on top of her head, gripped lightly, and moved her head side to side… What an odd way of patting someone's head.

"Don't you worry, Ruby Rose," he said, his voice gentle and reassuring, "I will always watch over you."

A warm feeling bloomed in her chest, and she quickly blinked the moisture away from her eyes. As the game started up and showed the (absolutely awesome) intro sequence, she couldn't help but think that she had heard those words before, but ultimately dismissed the feeling as she set up their first match.

_"__I promise, I will never leave you, my little rose."_

=][=

_Nora's Detention_

Jaune blinked as he looked up, his neck feeling very uncomfortable bearing all of his weight.

"Why am I in a dress?" he wondered. Had his sisters been playing dress-up again?

He had been having such a nice dream. He had gone to Beacon, became a Huntsman, fell in love, met the _Sword Hunter_, and his crush had confessed that she liked him!

But as he stared at the pink skirt above his head on his brown hairy body beneath the azure sky, he could only conclude that it all had been a dream. That Pyrrha Nikos actually didn't exist, he hadn't gone to Beacon, and he wasn't a Huntsman nor had he met the Sword Hunter and gotten his autograph. Man, he had to be the only guy on Renmant who could fall in love with a girl that only existed in a dream.

Brown hair?

Jaune brought his legs down and sat straight up, noticing that somehow he was in a brown costume underneath his dress.

He brought his hands up to pinch his cheek but froze as he realized that he had three claws each on his costumed hand.

Was it Halloween? But why was he dressed up as a sloth in a dress? Even his sisters wouldn't do that...

Oh wait, Sapphire had left home. That meant that he had six sisters who would ignore his vote on his costume and dress him up. They probably had three who decided to dress him up as a sloth and three who wanted to dress him up as a girl and mom had suggested they compromise and went back to making sweets for the trick-or-treaters.

Yeah, that made sense.

Darn. He wasn't looking forward to this Halloween now. He wouldn't be able to make and wear a Sword Hunter costume like he had for the last several years. He had the best costume all lined up too...

His sewing skills had gotten pretty good, if he had to say so. Especially as Mom had gave up on making his costume for him and he didn't want to go with the costume stores's version as he preferred the 16th video's outfit with a slightly different shade of red...

"Mr. Arc?" Glynda's voice echoed from behind him. "Are you alright?"

"What?" Jaune turned around to find the Deputy Headmistress standing behind him with a looking elsewhere Nora Valkyrie.

"You seemed out of it for quite some time, especially after I found Ms. Valkyrie throwing you out the window." Glynda pointed up at the Beacon dormitory behind her. In particular, the section that now had a broken window. "And blunt force injuries to the head can have subtle damage."

"Sorry Jaune," Nora mumbled. "I reacted on instinct and threw you out the window when I saw Ms. Goodwitch coming."

"Wait, I'm in Beacon?" Jaune latched onto the important part.

"Indeed," Glynda frowned, looking rather worried. "Did you suffer memory loss, Mr. Arc?"

Nora winced. "Sorry, Jaune-Jaune! Are you okay? I'll take you to the infirmary! And help you with your homework and catching you up so you won't be held back a year!"

"Then it wasn't a dream?" Jaune asked hopefully.

"Mr. Arc, you have been attending Beacon for almost a year now," Glynda stated as Nora rushed forward. "I do believe that you should get an examination at the infirmary."

"Yes!" Jaune jumped up, fist pumping into the air even as Nora slammed on the breaks to avoid colliding with him. "It wasn't a dream! Pyrrha actually likes me!"

"Wait, you needed a hit on the head to figure that out?" Nora tilted her head. "If that was all, I could have done that months ago! Hey, what would you realize if I gave you repeated knocks on the head?"

Nora reached for her hammer only to realize she wasn't carrying it with her right now.

Glynda looked at the ecstatic blond who was not paying attention to his teammate and sighed.

"Teenagers," she muttered despairingly as she waved her crop and reformed the glass shards scattered on the grass back into a window. "I hope I don't have to repair more windows from Ms. Valkyrie throwing more people through them. And I won't, isn't that correct, Ms. Valkyrie?"

The last was in a raised voice, meant to carry.

"Yes, Ma'am!" Nora skidded to a halt and saluted. "I will not throw Team Leader out the window again!"

"Very well," Glynda nodded approvingly. "You still have detention with me tomorrow. Where we will be discussing proper behavior to handling stress from teammates, which does not include inflicting head injuries or breaking windows as a coping method."

"Ahh," Nora slumped in dejection.


	24. Chapter 16

And here is the chapter proper.

Oof, let me tell you, writing this one was difficult. It was written, for the most part, two words at a time, during the last few seconds of lunch, at work.

Aside from that. Work was pretty hellish. Blugh.

The writing thing I was making an entry for is over. So yay.

But worry not! There's another one coming up I'mma be trying to write an entry for! ^_^

As usual, review and lemme know what you thought of the chapter. Liked and didn't.

Also check your PMs.

Kudos to Keel the Swift for Betaing.

I'm way too tired for an emoticon. =,=

=][=

"I have no idea what I'm even doing here," Emerald muttered as she opened the last utterly empty drawer in the utterly empty room.

"_Well," _Mercury's annoying voice said in her headset, _"if you need a reminder…"_

"Up yours, Mercury!" she cut him off as she looked at four identically made beds. She scowled and pulled out a coin then threw it at one of them. It bounced fairly high without so much as wrinkling the bedsheet.

She laid flat on the floor to look underneath the beds, but found nothing.

Emerald stood back up and crossed her arms. There was nothing, absolutely nothing. If she didn't know any better, she'd assume this room was unoccupied.

"How's it going on your end?" she asked.

"_Oh you know,"_ Mercury grunted, a metallic thud came through her headset followed by static interference. After it cleared up he said,_ "Hanging in there, almost done even."_

"Remember not to make a mess or Cinder will kill you."

"_Oh, Em! Are you actually_ worried_ about me? I'm touched!"_

"Shut up."

Emerald decided to give the whole room one last careful look. The bathroom, the floor, the desks. But it was all empty.

It was right as she was about to give up that she finally found something. A few strands of long black hair tangled in one of the folds of the beds. She brought it up to her nose. It had a faint citrusy smell.

"Well," she muttered, "he certainly works quickly."

"_What's up?"_ asked the living embodiment of aggravation at the other end of the call right before a robotic voice demanded identification. It was cut off by two metallic thumps.

"He's had a girl here," she said, tossing the hairs away. "Guy must be quite the playboy."

"_Wouldn't surprise me," _Mercury muttered. _"The guy's fans are pretty…rabid. If he _is_ who we think he is anyway."_

"Whatever."

Emerald used her Scroll to check the security feed from the hallway, and seeing it was clear, stepped out of the room. She updated Cinder on her meager findings, then checked how _that man _was doing.

Emerald could not help but be grudgingly impressed. It wasn't even noon and he'd already swept through most of the four-man rounds. For Cinder's sake, Emerald hoped Mercury wasn't full of crap.

Or well…more than usual anyways.

=][=

Nebula Violette bit her bottom lip as Professor Port and Doctor Oobleck introduced them for the second time. A part of her was glad at this second shot at the Vytal cup, another part was filled with trepidation at her opponent.

The so-called 'Mysterious Stranger'. An unprecedented addition to the tournament, facing a nigh impossible gauntlet of combat for a shot at the gold.

He was a little taller than average, dressed like the Sword Hunter, and he had what looked like a classic sword sheathed at his hip. And that was all that was known of him. He'd yet to even _draw_ the weapon even after more than twelve back to back fights.

Her eyes flickered to his Aura monitor, which read ninety eight.

Twelve fights, outnumbered and outgunned, and his Aura had only dropped two percent.

She shook her head as the holographic displays for the terrain roulette started their spin. "Dew, Octavia, as soon as the buzzer goes off, you two charge him, Gwen use your knives to corral him in. I'll try to nail him with an Ice Bolt to lock him down. Dew, if you see an opportunity to blow him off the arena, take it."

The girls of NDGO (indigo) nodded. Nebula wasn't sure why, but she could feel the stranger's eye on her, even if his hood and mask hid his features completely, she was certain he was staring right at her.

The roulette stopped, showing desert and city ruins.

Nebula smirked as the arena formed, home field advantage twice in a row.

"**Begin!"** Dr. Oobleck roared through the speakers.

Their opponent turned his back and sprinted to the ruins. Dew and Octavia rushed forward hot on his heels, spreading out to flank him, with Octavia gaining a lead as she used her Semblance to slide forward over the terrain. Gwen threw three knives in a single lightning fast motion. Nebula aimed one of her few precious Ice Dust Bolts at his legs as he began a pirouette, and pulled the trigger.

As she heard the _'kthunk!'_ of her crossbow firing the bolt, she saw their opponent snatch two of Gwen's knives out of the air and threw one back as he finished his spin, the knife flew and unerringly struck the bolt, causing it to detonate into a not insignificant chunk of ice mid-air, completely wasting the payload.

To add injury to insult, he threw the other knife at Dew who screeched in agony as the point of the knife bounced off her left eye, completely ruining her concentration and causing the whirlwind she'd started to summon to fizzle out.

Without missing a beat he rushed into the first of the destroyed buildings and all but disappeared.

"Stop!" Nebula ordered; Octavia came to a sliding halt just short of the door the Mysterious Stranger had disappeared through. "Regroup!"

More than one team had been taken out thanks to this exact tactic. He broke line of sight then ambushed the enemy team one by one, either taking them down before support could reach them, or taking out a big chunk of their Aura before disengaging and repeating the same tactic.

The very moment Octavia turned her back on the door to rejoin the rest of NDGO, a dark grey arm materialized out of the doorway, snaked around Octavia's neck and snatched her into the darkness of the building before her eyes had finished widening in surprise.

"Dammit!" Gwen shouted and rushed forward, readying more knives.

'_Crap,'_ Nebula thought and sprinted after her teammate, reloading her weapon before shifting it to its cutlass configuration.

The two of them burst through the doorway, weapons ready, only to see Octavia slumped against the floor with her back to the wall, her face a brighter red than her hair.

"Octavia! What happened!?" Nebula demanded, keeping an eye on the hole that led to the second story of the ruin they were in.

"I'm not sure," Octavia answered somewhat airily. "He just…He looked like he was going to kiss me, then he said, 'not her' and ran off."

…The hell? She exchanged glances with Gwen, who shrugged. Then Nebula came to a startling realization. "Dew is alone!"

She sprinted back outside, her teammates hot on her heels, and she got to see the Mysterious Stranger deliver a spear finger strike to Dew's neck with the fingers of his left hand, then stomped forward past her guard and buried his right elbow into her solar plexus with an impact that produced a visible shockwave. He snatched Dew's spear from her hand, spun it once and cast it.

The spear _screamed_ past Nebula before she could dodge, she heard it impact something behind her along with a huff that could only be someone's breath being knocked out of them.

Nebula brought up her crossbow, aiming at him as he once more began a pirouette, and loosed a bolt. The Mysterious Stranger snatched her bolt out of the air, completed his turn, and drove the bolt down into the base of Dew's neck, driving her back to the ground and utterly ruining her attempt to crawl back to her feet.

He planted a boot on the back of Dew's neck, then took off running toward the desert section of the arena, driving Dew partially _into _the asphalt with the force of his kickoff. The buzzer that indicated an elimination sounded as Nebula reloaded her crossbow, Gwen stepped next to her and loosed another set of knives as Nebula fired.

The Stranger sidestepped the bolt, but snatched two more knives out of the air with seemingly lazy grace, then continued unimpeded to dodge into the tightly clustered half-buried boulders that made up the desert terrain.

"**And the Mysterious Stranger continues to make excellent use of hit and run tactics!" **Oobleck's voice blurted over the speakers. **"A truly fearsome opponent who seems quite comfortable attacking always from an unexpected location!"**

She tuned out whatever else the announcers said and glowered at the desert terrain, the asshole was in their home turf, no way she'd mess up that opportunity. "Octavia, you slide around, draw the bastard out," she ordered as she pulled out one of her two Gravity Dust Bolts and loaded her crossbow with it. "You and Gwen keep him distracted, when I see an opening, I'll rush in and nail him with this bolt at point blank. I don't care how well he can snatch them out of the air, I doubt he is fast enough to catch one fired from close range. Once it hits him, we can finish him at our leisure."

"R-Right," Octavia gasped.

She turned to her team member and saw her holding her stomach. Nebula raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"That spear hit me really hard, okay!?" Octavia groused defensively, then activated her Semblance and was off before Nebula could respond.

She nodded at Gwen, who nodded back, and the two of them rushed to the desert terrain, both of them jumping on the large boulders to gain some altitude.

They watched as Octavia skated between rocks with grace. Then she skidded behind a boulder and did not come out the other side.

"Crap!" Nebula said, and jumped down from her perch, landing with a roll she sprinted toward where she last saw her teammate.

As she neared the boulder, the buzzer for an elimination sounded. The moment she had a glimpse of her opponent she brought up her crossbow, the point of the bolt less than an arm's length away from him, and pulled the trigger.

He twisted to the side so the bolt sailed past him.

What the hell!? Who had reflexes that fast!? Did he have a speed Semblance!?

Leaving Octavia laid out on the floor at his feet, he scrambled up and over the boulder and disappeared.

Nebula swore and rushed after him, trying to hear the flapping of his half-cape over the roaring of the crowd, but lost him in the maze.

"Gwen!" she screamed, "we need to group up! Gwen!"

"Coming!"

The sound of her friend's voice brought some relief to Nebula.

Her scream, followed by a gasp, the familiar sound of fists striking flesh, and the buzzer, brought the opposite.

Nebula transformed her weapon to a cutlass and put her back to a boulder. If he wanted her, he'd have to come at her from the front.

He proved her wrong when he landed feet first on top of her weapon, driving it from her hand. He caught her follow up punch in one hand and her left wrist in the other, then pushed her arms above her head and held both of her wrists with one hand, his grip as solid as a statue yet strangely gentle. He pressed his body tightly against hers, threading one leg through hers and locking it, denying her the ability to knee him in the crotch.

She struggled as best she could, but it was like trying to shift a boulder. "How the hell are you so strong!?"

His right hand cupped her cheek gently, and she stilled, not fighting as he turned her face up, wow, he was _really_ close. His eyes shone gold in the depths of his hood as he looked intently into her eyes.

He sighed as he looked away and muttered, "Not her."

"W-What do y—"

She was caught completely off-guard by the grip he had over her wrists tightening like a vice before he drove a dagger into her neck right on the jugular, the stabbing pain blinding her for a moment. She regained her senses as he pulled his hand back, and realized he was stabbing her with one of Gwen's knives.

"St—!" she was cut off once more as he drove the knife into the same spot. Struggling against his grip proved useless, he was holding her slightly above the ground, and pressed as she was to the boulder she couldn't get the leverage she needed to buck him off. Her struggles only succeeded in causing his grip on her wrists to tighten further, to the point that her hands went completely numb even through her Aura.

Her Aura held for a total of seven stabs into her neck.

After the buzzer announced his victory, he let her go and Nebula slumped to the floor, massaging her neck with trembling hands. He dropped the knife point first in front of her.

"Give that back to your teammate," he ordered as he turned his back to her. "You should go ahead and leave, I have several more matches to go through."

Nebula looked at the Aura monitor. He was still at ninety eight.

"Who the hell are you?" she croaked.

He looked at her over his shoulder, then shrugged. "I'm not important."

With that he dismissed her and walked back to the center of the arena.

Nebula glared at his back before sullenly plucking the throwing knife from the sand and staggering to her feet. "Asshole."

=][=

Winter Schnee watched with growing consternation as the 'Mysterious Stranger' systematically dismantled team BRNZ (bronze). She tapped the arm of her chair twice before she managed to still her fingers, chastising herself for succumbing to such a blatant show of weakness.

"Something on your mind, Specialist Schnee?" General Ironwood asked.

She turned to regard him as he stared intently at the match. She had found it strange that he was in the booth she had reserved rather than with Headmaster Ozpin, but he was her Superior, so she could only assume he had his reasons.

"Sir!" she responded, sitting straighter in her chair. "Permission to speak freely."

His eyes narrowed as the 'Mysterious Stranger' attacked a red haired member of BRNZ, stabbing his knuckles into pressure points that caused his opponent's hand to spasm open, then used the boy's cattle prod to stun a dark skinned brown-haired boy with saws on his vambraces at the same time that he used the redhead as a shield against a sniper and BRNZ's leader simultaneously.

"Permission granted," General Ironwood said absently.

"Sir, are you _certain_ this is the Sword Hunter?" she asked without preamble.

The general furrowed his brow as the buzzer for the first elimination sounded. "It is almost a certainty. What brings this question, Specialist?"

"Aside from the fact that he has yet to use a sword…He does not fight like a Huntsman, sir," she answered as the buzzer sounded a second time. "His movements are swift and precise, but they are utilitarian in the extreme, lacking any flourish or personal touch, it's almost like watching an advanced automaton rather than a human."

The buzzer sounded a third time. "Furthermore, his tactics: isolating his enemies and ambushing individuals, disrupting the team's tempo, utilizing them against each other or as shields for his own movements and attacks, turning their own weapons against them and their team members, exclusively utilizing attacks which would be immediately lethal or crippling were it not for Aura."

The buzzer sounded a fourth time, the match had lasted less than four minutes.

"Sir," she said as her hands clenched tightly into fists. "He has been trained to fight against and eliminate Huntsmen, I would even hazard to call it his specialty."

The General stared down at the supposed Sword Hunter. The only thing she could see of him from such a far distance was that he was turned in their direction, but she'd be willing to put down Lien on the Sword Hunter staring right back at the General.

She suppressed a shiver as the two teachers announced that the 'Mysterious Stranger' would now be facing off against the teams that were eliminated during the doubles rounds.

"Sir, if he _is_ the Sword Hunter…"

"Then the situation must be handled carefully," the General cut her off.

"Of course sir, but if I may ask. Why is he being allowed to compete in the Vytal tournament? Why is this happening at all? If he _is _who you say he is, then he is no student. Should we not be calling in the Ace-Ops? Prepare a strike team just in case that h—"

"That will be enough, Specialist," the General stated softly.

Winter closed her mouth instantly.

General Ironwood considered his words for a long time, the buzzer denoting a disqualification seemed to spur him to continue. "The answers to those questions are need-to-know. There is a plan in place, and countermeasures are being prepared in case things turn for the worse. For now, simply stay alert."

"Yes sir," Winter answered and turned back to the match, only to see she had missed most of the fight between the 'Mysterious Stranger' and half of team CRDL (cardinal). As she watched, he dodged his opponent's enormous mace with a swift pirouette and drove a spinning backfist into the hopelessly outclassed boy's temple, followed swiftly by an elbow to his solar plexus and a knife hand to his neck. He then jumped seven feet in the air, clamped his legs around his opponent's head, and did three consecutive twists, each of which would have broken the boy's neck were it not for his Aura.

The buzzer sounded and the 'Mysterious Stranger' dismounted from the larger boy and turned his back on his former opponent. Seemingly uncaring of his continued victory, or the cheers and boos from the crowd.

The palm of her hand itched for the grip of her weapon, before she berated herself for her childishness and vanished the urge to go down there and test herself against the only black mark in her service record.

She had to wonder, was there anyone in the tournament who could even _match _the Sword Hunter?

=][=

"Oi Sylvie! Get off!" Vernal groused as she shoved the heavier girl back, only for the idiot to rush back and press her tits against the back of Vernal's head again.

"But Vernal!" Sylvia whined. "You have like, the only Scroll without a cracked screen in the whole camp!"

"Then be more careful with your stuff!" she grumbled and shoved back, but was unable to throw the affable girl off. At least the evening wasn't awfully hot, though it _was _rather muggy. Maybe she could ask Raven to make the weather a bit cooler? Thinking of her boss gave her an idea that just might get Sylvia out of her damn tent. "Besides! Raven's scroll is also not broken, and hers has a bigger screen!"

Sylvia tightened her arms around Vernal and rested her chin on top of Vernal's head. "Yeah, but she'll kick my ass if I ask to borrow her Scroll! Especially since she's sneaking looks at how Shirou's kicking ass while pretending to be pissed at everyone slacking off to watch."

The day had turned into something of an impromptu holiday for the Branwens as they all watched their cook/mechanic/weaponsmith/second-best warrior literally step into the Vytal festival out of nowhere and start cleaning the floor with all of those Huntsmen hopefuls.

Vernal would be lying if she said she hadn't enjoyed watching all those snooty kids, with their fancy weapons and fancier combat school diplomas, get their asses handed to them by her little brother while he fought unarmed.

"Why do you think he's not using swords though?" Sylvia said, her arms tightening around Vernal when she saw Shirou walk through some asshole's glowing trumpet blast, his half-cape streaming behind him, an orange-haired girl rushed him while he was occupied, swinging glowing nunchucks at him.

Vernal smirked as he used the weird sound tunnel thing to his advantage, allowing it to blow him back so the girl's attack missed by a hair's breadth. He then dug in his heel, his hand shooting out and capturing the girl's arm. He put her in a hold and held her face close.

"Huh," Vernal said as Sylvia sighed. "Guess she has green eyes."

"I really hate that about him you know," Sylvia muttered, finally letting go of Vernal.

Seeing as she missed Shirou driving the girl's face into a fire pillar before continually slamming her head against the floor until her Aura broke, Vernal could not help but be a little concerned.

"Sylvie?" she asked, putting her Scroll down as the now familiar buzz of a disqualification sounded along with loud cheering from the camp. "What's up?"

Sylvia hugged her legs to her chest and rested her chin on her knees, looking genuinely vulnerable for the first time since she was a child.

"I've tried everything, Vernal," she muttered, tucking an errant lock of silver hair behind an ear. "I've tried being coy, I've tried being nice, I've tried being aggressive and passive. I've tried buying him stuff and cooking for him. Hell, I _know _he should be into me cause I got him drunk enough to make out with me once!

"But…it just…it feels awful to see him pay more attention to any random bitch that he runs across who has the right colored eyes, than he's ever paid _me_." She looked up, her large blue eyes dewy, the jagged scar on her cheek pulling her lip up, turning her pout into a derisive smirk. "Is it…do you think it's because of my scar? Is _that _why he won't give me the time of day?"

"Oh Sylvie," Vernal said and hugged the girl's head to her chest. Sylvia returned the hug fiercely and sniffled into her shirt. "It's not that, I assure you it's not that."

"How can you know!?" Sylvia demanded with a hiccup.

"Because he's my idiot of a brother," Vernal answered, stroking the girl's hair. "It's taken me a while but I've sort of managed to figure out how he thinks…kinda. I'm relatively sure he finds scars sexy."

"Bullshit," Sylvia muttered, not relenting on the hug.

"Eh, maybe a little," Vernal admitted, feeling the wet spot on her shirt getting wider, the sensation bringing forth a surprisingly strong feeling of nostalgia. When was the last time she'd done that for Shirou? Four years ago? Six? She shook her head, dismissing the thought. "It's not any fault of yours Sylvie, it's just…for a while there, that girl he remembers was all Shirou _had_.

"You didn't really get to know him until Raven and I had a few months to work on him. He used to be…cold, almost mechanical. Like he had no idea how to be a _person_, but there _is _one thing I can tell you." Vernal waited for Sylvia to lean back enough to meet her eyes, Sylvia's eyes were puffy and red. "Ever since you started to force him to be your friend, he became _better_. You…you forced him to learn how to _people_, if that makes any sense. He smiles more often, I think if you keep it up, you'll join Raven and I in the ranks of immunity from discipline."

Sylvia's eyes sparkled. Raven's and Vernal's immunity from Shirou upholding discipline via not-tasty but nonetheless nutritious food, had made them the envy of the entire Tribe. When next Sylvia spoke, it was with repressed hope and awe in equal mixture. "You really think so?"

"Yeah," Vernal answered, feeling not at all certain about that, maybe if she asked him to, Shirou would include Sylvia in the immunity? Worth a try. "And once you have that, well, it's basically one step closer to getting my idiot brother to notice your feelings."

"You're not just stringing me along right?" Sylvia asked, her voice low. "You actually think I have a chance, right?"

"Sylvie, you've gotten farther than anyone else." Vernal very carefully did not mention that was not saying much, but Sylvia had at least managed to trade spit with Vernal's idiot of a little brother, even if he was too drunk to really agree or disagree at the time. That had to count as square one, right?

Judging by the girl's beaming smile, that was the right thing to say, and Sylvia's propensity not to think too hard about things was working in Vernal's favor.

"Now," Vernal mock-grumbled and playfully shoved Sylvia back just hard enough for the idiot to fall over with a startled squeak. "I've missed out on enough Shirou beating the shit out of Huntsman kids."

Without another word, she turned her Scroll back on just in time to see Shirou slam his knee into a wolf-faunus' face three times, the buzzer sounded and Shirou let his stunned opponent fall to the ground.

Turning his back on the recovering faunus he walked sedately to the center of the arena and crossed his arms.

"You know," Sylvia said as she once more hugged Vernal from behind, causing her to sigh. "Shirou could stand to be a bit more sportsmanlike. At this rate everyone will end up thinking he's an asshole."

Vernal barked a laugh. "If more chicks think he's an asshole, that'd mean less competition for you Sylvie!"

"You're right," Sylvia answered in an awed whisper before throwing herself forward so hard she almost drove Vernal to the floor and shouted, "Don't you stop being an ass, Shirou!"

"Aaargh! Shut up and stop distracting me!" Vernal groused with one more shove back, which while it regrettably failed to dislodge the silver haired parasite, did at least let her sit in a more comfortable position.

"Okay okay!" Sylvia chuckled as the two idiot announcers said something about coffee. Which made Vernal feel like drinking some. But she didn't have a fire going, and she was feeling much too lazy to get Shirou's electric stove and prepare some.

Stupid announcers.

=][=

Velvet Scarlatina took a deep breath and tried to calm her wildly beating heart. As she walked out of the hallway into the arena, the roar of the crowd went from 'deafening' to 'physical blow'.

She shook out her hands in an attempt to settle her nerves.

It had taken her a long time to convince Coco to let her fight here. After all, if she fought Shirou with everything she had, Team CVFY's secret weapon would no longer be all that secret. But Velvet could not find it in herself to back down.

This was the ever enigmatic Sword Hunter, the man who had seemingly mastered every classical weapon. She had a plushie of him in her room and had watched dozens of hours of videos and documentaries about him, she'd put a hundred and fifty three hours into learning his character in Kung-Fu Ninja Slayers Ultimate Death Battle 2. It might not be all that far off the mark to say she idolized him, though certainly not to the same extent as Ruby.

But he himself had said he would not stay in Beacon for more than a few days. Velvet might well never get another shot at this.

Shirou turned to look at her and Yatsu, and her heart began thundering in her chest so hard she could feel it slamming against her ribcage. Her vision narrowed and it took all she had not to trip over her own feet and plant her face on the floor.

Just what the hell was she doing? Challenging the _Sword Hunter _of all people? The world started to tilt as the Sword Hunter loomed so large he could blot out the sun.

She could hear Dr. Oobleck and Prof. Port talking, but it was strangely muffled as her breathing sped up, faster and faster. Her stomach started roiling as her whole body broke out into a cold sweat.

A big warm hand landed on her shoulder and squeezed gently, she blinked and turned to look at it in confusion, then followed it up to the shoulder, then to Yatsu's face.

He smiled gently down at her then spoke gently. "Don't worry, Velvet, you've got this."

She stared up at him for several more moments before closing her eyes and forcing herself to take deep breaths. Using his hand on her shoulder as a reference until the world stopped swaying.

When she opened her eyes, the arena had stopped rumbling as the biomes had finished setting up, and Shirou was no longer a looming Titan, he was just a man. A strong, fast, and very skilled man, but a man all the same. She nodded to Yatsu and put her hands up in a boxing stance.

"**BEGIN!" **shouted Prof. Port.

Velvet and Shirou kicked off the ground at the same instant, barreling toward each other at such speed that his tattered half-cape billowed behind him and her ears lay flat against the top of her skull.

Due to his longer stride, they did not quite meet in the center. The both of them threw out the exact same right straight, the middle knuckle extended to focus all of the force behind their charge and punch into a pinpoint strike. The both of them parried with their left hand, turning their palm to force the strike away from their head. The both of them stomped hard on the ground and pushed forward and bent their knees, twisting their core to drive their right elbow into their opponent's solar plexus with all of their weight.

Both aborted the attempt as their forearms clashed against each other, since Shirou was significantly heavier, he pushed Velvet back, giving her the space she needed to throw a kick at his knee, a kick he checked with one of his own, as he did the second and third.

The both of them put power into their leg at the same moment and pushed off from each other, landing several feet apart and immediately circled to their right. Both of their left arms dropping to their waist, their left shoulder rising to cover their chin and their right hand forming a fist and guarding the right side of their head.

That's when Velvet smirked and activated _Anesidora, _in an instant, glowing wireframe renditions of the Sword Hunter's prized falchions were in her hands.

Velvet kicked off the floor with such force that the concrete cracked. Shirou had a scant instant to recover from his surprise before Velvet's left blade nearly tore his skull in two. He threw himself back, the blade cutting a line through his hood. Velvet stomped forward and threw herself into a flurry of blows. She targeted his eyes, his jugular, the arteries of his armpits and the inside of his thighs. One attack led into the second led into the third led into the fourth, each attack just a little faster than the one before.

Velvet's Semblance, _Photographic Memory_, allowed her to replicate any movement perfectly after having seen it once. It also made studying for tests laughably easy, but that is a story for another time. Velvet had studied the Sword Hunter's attacks and movements for years, she'd devoured every video that showed him fighting in close quarters, and she had watched as he demolished all of the other teams in the competition.

So as he dodged to the side, letting her stab bypass him as she knew he would, she bent her knees, dropping almost to the ground and therefore dodging his retaliatory punch as he threw it. She twisted her body to dodge his rising knee and jumped, bringing the sword in her left hand up in a rising uppercut that he barely avoided by throwing his head back, again, as she had known he would.

She expertly twirled the sword in her left hand, using muscle memory not her own to reverse the grip on it so she could bring it down in a stab at his shoulder, then he finally pulled a move she had not seen him make. He slapped his hand into her stomach and straightened out his arm, and due to the fact that she was currently airborne, there was nothing Velvet could do other than be flung away like a rag doll, creating several feet of space between them as she landed.

Had it been Shirou who used that move, he would not have needed to jump, but Velvet's shorter stature had created that slight opening for him to disengage. The constructs in her hands expired, the Hardlight Dust discorporating into a glowing puff of smoke and powder.

The two of them took a few moments to measure each other up.

"So that's why you took so many pictures," Shirou said conversationally, his breathing fast but steady.

Velvet felt her chest swell with pride at the fact that she had gotten him to speak. She smirked at him. "Guilty as charged."

"So, when is your friend jumping in?" he asked as he stretched his neck.

"Whenever it is most opportune," she said and held her hand to the side_,_ a wireframe phantom of the Sword Hunter's Red Spear settled into her hand.

Velvet could feel that something was missing. The weapon in her hand did not make her skin crawl or cause a cold shiver to travel up her spine. It didn't smell sickeningly of iron or seem to pulsate with barely repressed malice. But it was a powerful weapon nonetheless.

She hunched forward, her stance predatory as she held the spear by the butt and halfway to the neck. She saw his eyes widen as she rushed him, throwing three lightning quick stabs at his head, heart, and liver that he dodged by the barest of margins. She swept the spear in a short arc that almost bit into his neck, then arrested the movement and stabbed at his core. Shirou had to throw himself into a roll to dodge the stab and the follow-up sweep, digging his fingers into the concrete and literally pulling himself one-armed away from her, the tip of the spear biting into the concrete where his head had been an instant before.

He pushed off the ground and threw himself to his feet, setting his stance as Velvet rushed to meet him, her eyes flickering to the huge shadow behind Shirou for the barest instant.

Apparently, that flicker was all the warning he needed, as right as she neared him he turned, Yatsuhashi Daichi fell on him like a green-tinted avalanche an instant before she stabbed forward with her copy of Shirou's spear, an impact reverberating up the shaft and into her arms.

Yatsu's attack cratered the floor and raised a cloud of concrete dust, the noise of the crowd thunderous as they cheered the first possibly solid hit the 'Mysterious Stranger' had taken in his participation in the tournament.

As the dust fell away, Velvet saw a cold green glow emanating from the center, before a shove pushed her back. Her feet skidding on the floor, she looked up just in time to see Yatsu land with a loud thud some distance away.

The entire stadium went quiet as a grave as the dust settled enough to see Shirou, rising from a crouch, an enormous jagged-edged stone slab gripped in his right hand, _Crocea Mors_ deployed in his left.

She could see his eyes shining gold out of his hood. Velvet felt a cold dread roll up and down her spine. He was different; before he had seemed relaxed but impatient. He'd walked with the gait of a man going to work, going through the motions but not truly giving it his whole attention.

Now his eyes were gold-colored flint, lines of cold green fire running from the sides of his head to the tips of his fingers warming up to blue, his glare pinning her where she stood.

Even though he did not speak as he walked out of the small crater Yatsu had made, Velvet understood.

The reason he had not drawn a weapon so far, was not as several of those he'd beaten believed, it wasn't to lord his superior skills over the Huntsmen students, rather it was because he simply hadn't needed to. He hadn't been pushed to the point where he'd need to take a fight seriously. Not until just now.

Just now, at that instant, had Velvet not given Yatsu's sneak attack away, or if they'd been a little faster. Shirou could have lost. Velvet had proven herself to be a threat to whatever goal he was pursuing by competing in the tournament.

From now on he would treat her as such.

Velvet had a single second to indulge in questioning her life's choices, as in the blink of an eye, he was in front of her. The jagged stone slab carving a shallow valley in the concrete, tearing through it in a rising slash aimed at her head.


End file.
